Kingdom of Heaven Plot

Kingdom of Heaven begins in a remote village in France, with a blacksmith, Balian (Orlando Bloom), haunted by his wife's recent suicide as the result of the death of their child. A group of Crusaders arrives at the small village and Balian discovers the existence of his out-of-wedlock father, Baron Godfrey of Ibelin (Liam Neeson), amongst the crusaders, and that the town priest (who is his brother) is wearing a pendant taken from his wife's body. In addition, the priest reveals that his wife's body was beheaded before burial, which was customary practice in those times for people who committed suicide. Enraged, he viciously murders the priest. Afterwards he decides to follow his father and his men to Jerusalem in the hope of gaining redemption and forgiveness for both his wife and himself.
As they leave the village, the local ruler's men confront the Crusaders under the premise of arresting Balian. The Crusaders refuse to surrender him and a brief but bloody skirmish erupts in which Godfrey's knights are victorious, but several of them are killed and Godfrey is gravely wounded by an arrow.
In Messina, Godfrey, on the brink of death, knights Balian, orders him to serve the King of Jerusalem and protect the helpless, and ultimately shares with him his vision of a 'kingdom of conscience', morality, and righteousness in the Holy Land. On the journey to Jerusalem, the convoy is hit by a storm, and Balian is the sole survivor of the shipwreck. Balian soon finds himself confronting a Muslim cavalier and his servant over possession of a horse. Balian slays the horseman in single combat, but spares the servant, asking him to take him to Jerusalem. Upon their arrival in Jerusalem, Balian releases his prisoner, and asks him for the name of his master whom he has slain, so that he can pray for his soul. His prisoner tells him, and departing says that, 'Your qualities will be known among your enemies before ever you meet them'. Balian soon becomes acquainted with the main players in Jerusalem's political arena: King Baldwin IV (Edward Norton), stricken by leprosy yet nevertheless one of the film's wisest and most sensible rulers; Princess Sibylla (Eva Green), King Baldwin IV's sister and Balian's love interest; Guy de Lusignan, Sibylla's scheming, bloodthirsty, and intolerant husband.
Guy and Raynald of Châtillon massacre a Muslim trade caravan. Enraged, Saladin, leader of the muslim forces, attacks Kerak, Raynald's castle. Balian decides to defend Kerak castle from Saladin's cavalry. Though outnumbered, he and his knights charge Saladin's cavalry to give the Kerak villagers time to flee to the castle; the quick battle ends with Balian's capture. In captivity, he encounters the "servant" he freed, learning he is actually one of Saladin's generals, who returns the favour, freeing him to Kerak. Then, King Baldwin IV arrives with his main army, and successfully negotiates a Muslim retreat with Saladin, averting a bloodbath. At Saladin's camp, several of his generals are angry that he made a truce, but Saladin dismisses these complaints as a foolhardy rush to war; he will only launch an attack against Jerusalem after ample preparation, when he feels he is strategically strong enough.

King Baldwin dies and Sibylla succeeds him. She names her husband Guy the King Consort of Jerusalem, after the King's failed pairing of Balian to Sibylla. Balian refused it, as Guy's murder was a kingly condition; such political intriguing is counter to Balian's morality. Elsewhere, Guy, helped by Raynald, provokes Saladin's attack by murdering Saladin's sister, and marches to the desert, without adequate food and water, to fight Saladin. The Muslim army ambushes them in a great battle; the crusaders are annihilated. King Guy and Raynald are captured; Saladin slits Raynald's throat, and then marches on Jerusalem, defended only by Balian. Saladin's siege of Jerusalem is three days of battle wherein Balian demonstrates tactical skill in knocking down siege towers and holding the line when a section of city wall is opened. The next day, Balian surrenders Jerusalem to Saladin on condition of the inhabitants' safe passage to Christian Lands. Balian points out that when the Crusaders took Jerusalem a hundred years previously, they massacred the Muslim inhabitants, but Saladin assured him that he is a man of honor, and keeping his word allows Balian and his people to leave.
At story's end, Balian is back in his French village. A column of crusader knights rides through, led by King Richard I of England, who tells Balian they are enroute to new Crusade to re-take Jerusalem from Saladin. King Richard asks Balian, the defender of Jerusalem, to join him, but Balian answers that he is only a blacksmith, and declines.
After visiting the grave of Balian's first wife, he and Sibylla ride into the sunset. A title card concludes the story, explaining that Richard the Lionheart failed to conquer Jerusalem from the Muslims after years of war, that fighting over Jerusalem continues, and that "even today, peace in the Kingdom of Heaven remains elusive".