After her adoptive mother dies, Hortense, a successful black optometrist, seeks out her birth mother. She's shocked when her research leads her to Cynthia, a working class white woman.
After their latest production, "Princess Ida", meets with less-than-stunning reception, Gilbert and Sullivan's relationship is strained to the breaking point. Their friends and associates attempt to get the two to work together again, which bares the path to "The Mikado", one of the duo's greatest successes.
