Beryl Gore is a lonely orphan living and working at the Palace Theater in London. Night after night, the company performs tales of guts and glory to an audience of drunken louts while young Beryl cranks the artificial wave machine, entranced by the drama. The plays color Beryl's otherwise humdrum life amongst the slaughterhouses and cobbled alleys of the city. In her attic room, she pens her own melodrama, a bloody yarn of pirates and damsels where goodness is always rewarded. When Beryl shyly shows her work to Mister Perry, the Theater Manager, he shoos the child away.

As Beryl enters adulthood, the theater ages with her, becoming shabbier and emptier with each passing season. As theater-goers turn to fresh spectacles elsewhere, Beryl realizes her theatrical world is in trouble. If the Palace is to be saved, it will need a bold new playwright.