1955 London. Vivien Lowry's latest play, the only female-authored one in London's West End that winter, has opened to a rapturous reception from audiences. However, the critics' savage reviews soon force its closure and call into question her entire career. So, when the opportunity arises for her to work as a script doctor on a film shooting in Rome's Cinecittà Studios, a world populated with the likes of Ava Gardner and Sophia Loren, Vivien takes it. What she doesn't count on is the greatest male bastion of them all: the Vatican.

Caught between powerful church censors and the exciting world of filmmaking, as well as two very different men, Vivien must also face the long-buried truth of the recent World War and what really happened to her soldier fiancé if she's to deal with her past and step into the future.