A young man, Arthur, struggles with the legacy of his larger-than-life father, a con artist capable of working wonders of deception, but essentially unreliable. When his imprisoned father, nearing the end of his life, informs Arthur of a secret family legacy awaiting in a bank vault -- an undiscovered Shakespearean play titled "The Tragedy of Arthur" -- Arthur wonders if it is his father's latest con. The two Arthurs -- the young novelist and King Arthur from the play -- act out their individual but intertwined fates.