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Charles Dickens prepares for one of the many public readings of his work, with which, famously, he would hold audiences spellbound for hours. As he does so, the audience is given a glimpse into the tormented, furious and wildly creative imagination of the great novelist. In selected works that show his incredible range as a writer, we also see bits from him as an essayist, satirist and storyteller with amazing descriptive powers. Dickens weaves through the vivid world of mid-Victorian England, raging, weeping, inventing, laughing, performing, and then finally driving himself to the exhaustion that killed him at the age of 58. With Dr Jane Mackay