The papal conclave, held to elect a new Pope, is the world’s most secretive event. After the death of a beloved Pope, Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is tasked with running this covert process inside the back corners of the Vatican. Lawrence quickly finds himself the center of a conspiracy, as the cardinals forge factions and rivalries to serve their own ambitions. As ambitions, divisions and scandals start to boil over and the political machinations inside the Vatican intensify, Lawrence realizes that the departed Pope had kept a secret from them that he must uncover before a new Pope is chosen.