Geoffrey Tennant returns to the New Burbage Festival, the scene of his career-ending nervous breakdown, after the death of his friend Oliver Welles, the festival's artistic director. Geoffrey reluctantly agrees to fill in as interim artistic director as the festival stages Hamlet, starring Ellen Fanshaw, his ex-lover, and Jack Crew, a Hollywood action star with no stage experience.

When Oliver continues to appear, Geoffrey is not sure if he is being haunted or suffering another nervous breakdown.