With last season's Macbeth the toast of Broadway, Geoffrey is under pressure to deliver another hit. The play he has chosen is an even greater challenge, King Lear. Terrified to climb this Everest alone, he seeks out his ghostly mentor, Oliver Wells. But Oliver is nowhere to be seen. As for Ellen, Geoffrey's on again/off again lover, she is too busy taking Geoffrey's panic personally to be of any help. So Geoffrey turns to his boyhood hero Charles Kingman, who he coaxes out of retirement to play King Lear.