Amid the glamour of London in the 1950s, renowned dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock and his sister Cyril dress members of the royal family, film stars, heiresses, socialites, debutants and dames with the distinctive style of The House of Woodcock. Women come and go through Woodcock's life, providing the confirmed bachelor with inspiration and companionship, until he comes across Alma, a strong-willed young woman who soon becomes a fixture in his life as his muse and lover. Once controlled and planned, he finds his carefully tailored life disrupted by love.[11]