Thomas Otway, Restoration playwright and poet, is helplessly in love with celebrated tragedienne Elizabeth Barry and created many of the roles that catapulted her to stardom.  Barry's former lover, the Earl of Rochester, is a notorious reprobate and would-be playwright.  He amuses himself by commissioning a play from the financially desperate Otway and then "loses" the only copy of the piece.  Otway spirals down into drunkenness and depression, leading to his suicide.