Florence Foster Jenkins

A few months in 1944 in the life of New York society matron Florence Foster Jenkins is dramatized, she a benefactress and patron of the performing arts. Despite suffering a plethora of health problems over her life, including contracting syphilis from her first husband when she was eighteen, it is arguably a combination of her love of music and singing, and the devotion of her second husband of twenty-five years, actor St. Clair Bayfield, that has kept her alive far past what would have otherwise been the case. That devotion, however, does not preclude his affair with Kathleen in what is the "understanding" between husband and wife. For various reasons, Florence feels the want to revive her operatic singing career, she hiring her former vocal coach Carlo Edwards, and after conducting some auditions, a new accompanist, Cosme McMoon, beyond his undeniable ability so chosen arguably because of his generally soft demeanor which would not overshadow her. However in Cosme being someone new in her midst, he feels the initial urge to expose the open secret that has the potential to derail his career before it even begins: that Florence cannot only not sing opera, she cannot sing, period. St. Clair has been able to protect Florence from ridicule over all these years in her public singing by surrounding her with people who are willing to protect the secret: professionals, such as the critics who have been invited to her concerts, being paid off; other professionals, such as Carlo, telling Florence what she wants to hear because of the financial benefit; and friends who truly love Florence no matter what she does. Beyond the issue of Cosme, St. Clair has to decide how best to handle the situation this time when Florence unilaterally decides to make her singing even more public than usual, first by producing a record which has the potential to last forever regardless of its initial distribution, and second in pursuing her dream of performing at the much larger venue of Carnegie Hall.