Ivan IV becomes Russia's first Tsar and spends much of his reign proving the nickname his subjects gave him: Ivan the Terrible. This profile traces his rise from a childhood surrounded by court intrigue and assassination to a rule built on centralized power and territorial expansion, then turns to the paranoia and cruelty that followed. It describes the oprichnina, the private force Ivan organized like a twisted monastery, and the torture methods attributed to him, including frying and boiling those he judged enemies. The film does not skip the domestic violence that defined his final years: in 1581 Ivan beats his pregnant daughter-in-law for wearing what he considers immodest dress, an assault that may have caused a miscarriage. When his son confronts him over it, Ivan strikes him in the head with his pointed staff, killing him. Between these episodes the film notes Ivan's fits of religious repentance, brief and ultimately meaningless against the pattern of violence that runs through his reign and ends with his own bloodline.