1581. Emilia Bassano is allowed no voice of her own, but finds a way to secretly bring her work to the stage. Yet by paying a man for the use of his name, she will write her own out of history. His name? William Shakespeare. Present day Manhattan. Young playwright Melina Green is determined to see one of her shows make the stage, but it appears a woman's voice is still worth less than a man's. So inspired by the life of her ancestor Emilia Bassano, she takes a lesson from history and submits a play under a male pseudonym . . . Women have long been written out of history, but have they held the pen all along?