Jimmy Harper (Gary Webster) loves to gamble and enjoys enough success to bring him to the attention of a group of men who play for big money. Soon Jimmy decides to change his name to James Harper, to reflect his increased importance, and seeks a way out of his job in a factory. However, as the stakes in the games increase, Jimmy/James may begin to wonder whether he is in over his head and has risked too much...

Aging King George III of England is exhibiting signs of madness, a problem little understood in 1788. As the monarch alternates between bouts of confusion and near-violent outbursts of temper, his hapless doctors attempt the ineffectual cures of the day. Meanwhile, Queen Charlotte and Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger attempt to prevent the king's political enemies, led by the Prince of Wales, from usurping the throne.