Inspired by true events, Claudette on the Keys is the story of Ida Fernley, whose stage name is Claudette, and her husband Harry, a Toronto-based duo piano team called the Black and White Spotters. At the height of the Great Depression, the pair are hanging onto their livelihoods by their fingernails.
It is the winter of 1936 when the struggling musical couple have been laid off from their live weekly radio program due to a pullout by the sponsor, Shirriff's Marmalade. After their home is re-possessed, desperation sets in.
When Ida plays free of charge for a charity concert at Shea's Hippodrome, she happens to meet a British talent agent who is impressed by her virtuosic rendition of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue." He invites her and Harry to come to London to work, where Ida experiences firsthand the rise of fascism and becomes embroiled in pre-war intrigue. Whenever she finds herself in a tough spot, she draws inspiration from her movie-star hero Claudette Colbert.