Setting and Background

In fin-de-siecle, 1890's London, Patience Floyd; a young Anglo-Irish beauty of good background and comfortable means; has escaped an unhappy past by marrying the flamboyant, Irish playwright and celebrated wit, Sebastian Mulholland.

Patience and Sebastian

Adored in artistic circles and feted by high society Sebastian's rise to lasting fame and fortune seems inevitable and he appears to be in danger of becoming a man of great literary importance.

With the passing of the years Patience Mulholland blooms in the Chelsea sanctuary Sebastian has created for her to become the perfect artist's wife, a silent, dutiful, cryptic muse dedicated to the nurturing of their beloved sons, Cecil and Dylan.

Conflict and New Arrival

All is well in the Mulholland's enchanted world until the day when a deeply troubled and troubling young poet, the strikingly handsome Lord Albert 'Bertie' Dougray enters their lives seeking Sebastian's guidance on matters poetic, polemic and other more earthly things...