 The film opens with Sir John Falstaff and Justice Shallow walking through the snow , then to a warm fire inside the Boar 's Head Tavern as the two reminisce . After a main credit sequence , the narrator explains that King Henry IV of England has succeeded Richard II , whom he had killed . Richard II 's true heir , Edmund Mortimer , is a prisoner in Wales , and Mortimer 's cousins Northumberland , Worcester and Northumberland 's son Hotspur demand that Henry rescue Mortimer . Henry refuses and Northumberland , Worcester and Hotspur begin to plot his overthrow . 
