When eighteen-year-old William Shakespeare meets twenty-six-year-old Anne Hathaway, he is a frustrated apprentice in his father's leather shop. His only passion in life is writing and women. Though he seems to fall in love with every new girl he meets, Anne Hathaway's spirit intrigues him. Despite his best friend, Hamnet Sadler's advice to focus on glove making, William pursues the free-spirited Anne.