After a nine month visit by Polixenes, King of Bohemia to his childhood friend, Leontes, King of Sicilia, Polixenes, yearns to return to his own kingdom and see his son. Suddenly Leontes is consumed by jealousy and is convinced that his wife Hermione has had an affair with Polixenes. Warned by the courtier Camillo, Polixenes flees for Bohemia. Hermione is tried for treason and her daughter is ordered to be abandoned in a desolate place.