What is the mystery of Thomas Chatterton? A young poet and elderly female novelist try to decode the clues found within an eighteenth-century manuscript, only to discover that their investigation is disclosing other secrets for which there is no solution. But they are not alone in their quest: the mystery is being revived in an earlier age, as in the mid-nineteenth century, Henry Wallis paints his celebrated portrait of Chatterton lying dead in an attic room. And Chatterton himself, the young man who was described as the originator and inspiration of the Romantic movement, steps forward with his own story of the events that happened in August 1770.