Hollywood, 1927: As silent movie star George Valentin wonders if the arrival of talking pictures will cause him to fade into oblivion, he sparks with Peppy Miller, a young dancer set for a big break.

In the Gilded Age, an ensemble of the era’s celebrities including Thomas Edison, Edgar Degas and Evelyn Nesbit meet at the home of an eccentric and failing tycoon. By the end of the night, the mogul is found dead, spurring a historical fiction-themed murder mystery.