Penniless writer Angel Deverell (Romola Garai) meets wealthy publisher Théo (Sam Neill), who becomes an avid champion of her work. The resulting series of explicit romance novels makes Deverell a celebrity -- and catapults her into the upper echelons of English society. A self-made woman, Deverell marries struggling modernist painter Esmé (Michael Fassbender) and becomes his sole patron. But, as World War I fractures Europe, Deverell finds her marriage and career thrust into turmoil.