Gale Doolittle's days as a bathhouse body worker are numbered. His side work on the shadowy streets of Edwardian London don't pay as well, and are more risky. When a Colonel comes in for a rub-down and tells him a local phonetics expert is being unduly mean to a female student, Gale rushes in to take her place. It doesn't only rescue her, but might also rescue his employment prospects.

Oxford graduate Henry Higgins is confident, so much so that he's wagered he can pass off common gutter folk as nobility at an embassy ball. He's also brusque, and wrong about a lot of things. As Gale's speech training progresses the two frequently spat, and when Gale outs himself to Henry he discovers he's not the only one who finds their sparring more than just mentally invigorating.

The more Gale gets to know Henry underneath the brash exterior, the more he learns is on the line for his new lover: career, companionship, contentment, freedom to be his true self. And Gale must decide if his project—Henry—is worth the payoff.