Although the play is anonymous and collaborative authorship is common in late-Elizabethan and early-Jacobean drama, most sources agree that the principal author is probably George Chapman, and not other mentioned possibilities, including Nathan Field and John Fletcher.
Act I opens with news that Charlemagne has married Theodora, and at the heart of the play's machinations are the new empress's siblings, the Machiavellian Ganelon and Gabriella (in love with courtier Richard).
In recognition of his help in arranging the royal marriage, Ganelon is promoted as Constable of France, and amid the euphoric atmosphere there comes news of Prince Orlando's conquests in Spain.
The emperor is utterly distraught, carrying his wife's corpse around - until that is, Richard discovers and removes a strange ring beneath her tongue.
While at first rejecting his overtures, Charlemagne bizarrely promises to assent to La Busse's request on that day when he meets the young man on an ass in a deserted country lane.
Most of these and other heady machinations find their faltering denouement in Act Five, which opens with a botched ambush in which Richard, conspiring on behalf of Prince Orlando, is murdered by Ganelon.