In 1964, Richard Burton, newly married to Elizabeth Taylor, is to play the title role in an experimental new Broadway production of Hamlet under Sir John Gielgud’s exacting direction. But as rehearsals progress, two ages of theatre collide and the collaboration between actor and director soon threatens to unravel.

Five years after meeting her three fathers, Sophie Sheridan prepares to open her mother’s hotel. In 1979, young Donna Sheridan meets the men who each could be Sophie’s biological father.