Arthur finds his role as director of the Thanksgiving play a difficult one, especially since no one will agree to play the turkey.

Irresistibly attracted to the theater from an early age, Theodore Ryan, a brilliant yet unknown playwright, concocts a daring scheme that will propel him into the world's spotlight and satisfy his need for recognition.

In the spring of 1853, private detective Laetitia Rodd receives a delicate request from a retired actor, whose days on the stage were ended by a theatre fire ten years before. His great friend, and the man he rescued from the fire, Thomas Transome, has decided to leave his wife, who now needs assistance in securing a worthy settlement. Though Mrs Rodd is reluctant to get involved with the scandalous world of the theatre, she cannot turn away the woman...