The tragic tale of Maggie Tulliver, the miller's daughter, who defies her embittered brother in standing by the man she loves - shocking the stifling society in which she lives - in an attempt to pursue her blighted dreams.
Three plots intertwine: the entangled love affairs of Demetrius and Helena, Lysander and Hermia, the comic performance of a "play within a play" by the tradesmen of Athens and the antics in fairyland of King Oberon and Queen Titania.