Tyrants simultaneously charts two periods in the life of Edwin Booth: his adolescence on the road with his abusive father, the legendary actor Junius Brutus Booth, and his struggles with depression and addiction later in life, when he's a famous actor in his own right. When his brother, John Wilkes, ultimately commits the most notorious crime of the nineteenth century, Edwin's anguish and rage threaten to consume him, until he receives a fateful visit from a young journalist and war veteran, Frank Wilkeson.