Trying to top the critical and financial success of its last production, the festival plans to stage "King Lear", as well as a contemporary new musical. But creative director Geoffrey Tennant finds himself seized by fits of uncontrollable weeping. Ellen is too busy taking Geoffrey's panic personally to be of any help. Geoffrey coaxes his boyhood hero, Charles Kingman, out of retirement to play Lear.

Charles's erratic behavior becomes more and more disruptive, prompting Geoffrey to consider replacing him. As tensions grow within the cast of "Lear", personal and professional jealousies widen the rift between the Shakespearean actors and the eager young players in the musical.