It is the summer of 1593, and the rising young star of London’s theater scene, Will Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes), faces a scourge like no other: a paralyzing bout of writer’s block. What Will needs is a muse – and in an extraordinary moment in which life imitates art, he finds and falls for a woman who draws him into his own dramatic adventure of star-crossed love.

It all begins when Lady Viola (Gwyneth Paltrow), desperate to become an actor at a time when women were forbidden from such depravity, disguises herself as a man to audition for Will’s play.’ But the guise slips away as their passion ignites. Now Will’s quill again begins to flow, this time turning love into words, as Viola becomes his real-life Juliet and Romeo finds his reason to exist. In a whirl of mistaken identities, mixed-up messages and misbegotten desires – between bawdy brawls, duels with jealous husbands and dangerous kisses — Will Shakespeare searches for a resolution not only to his play but to his own undying passion.