In sixteenth-century London, a playwright with a taste for wine and women is seduced into danger . . .

Queen Elizabeth sits on the English throne and plague ravages the streets of the nation's capital. Against this backdrop, poet and playwright Christopher Marlowe struggles to complete his new play, Edward II—repeatedly succumbing to the more enjoyable distractions of drinking and gambling and not entirely trustworthy companions.

But London's pleasures are not all that capture his attention. Though he fancies himself in love with the wife of his patron, Thomas Walsingham, a chance encounter with a mysterious woman propels his life down a different path—one that will ultimately lead to his end . . .