1592: Sir Robert Carey has been ordered south to London by his powerful and short-tempered father, Lord Hunsdon. He really doesn't want to go near the place, not least because, as well as an entanglement with a woman, the City is full of Carey's creditors, their writs and bailiffs.

He also has to deal with both a poet and a would-be playwright: Christopher Marlowe has been working for the Crown as a spy, while Shakeshaft (or whatever his name is) just wants to avoid getting bullied by a fat ginger-bearded writer called Robert Greene.

It also seems that Lord Hunsdon wants his youngest son to do something for him - something that has the smell of treason all over it.