The young composer Arthur Sullivan is encouraged by his friends and fiancée, Grace, to pursue the creation of "serious" works, such as his cantata ''The Prodigal Son (Sullivan)'', but he is pleased by the acclaim that he receives for the music to the short comic opera ''Trial by Jury'', a collaboration with dramatist W. S. Gilbert. Grace leaves him, telling him that he is wasting his musical gifts on triviality, foreshadowing criticism from the musical establishment that will follow Sullivan for the rest of his career.