Actor Stephen Fry visits the Wagner festival at Bayreuth in an exploration of Wagner's life, music and drama, his music's association with Hitler and Nazi Germany, and Fry's own efforts to reconcile his passion for Wagner's music with the music's "stained legacy."

German composer Richard Wagner was notoriously anti-Semitic, and his writings on Jews were later embraced by Hitler and the Nazis. But there is another, lesser-known side to this story. For years, many of Wagner's closest associates were Jews, young musicians who became personally devoted to him, and provided crucial help to his work and career.