An odyssey of the heart begins the moment theater director Lucas Cameron discovers a box of letters left behind by his deceased grandmother, the famous stage actress Constance Bernhardt. The letters were written by her protegee Jessica Fontaine, who disappeared from the stage years before. Even in the midst of his busy world--staging a new Broadway play, coping with the overwhelming needs of his former wife and the social ambitions of his current girlfriend - Luke finds himself returning again and again to the letters, recognising in them a deeply passionate young woman discovering herself and the magic of the theater.