Shakespeare's plays portray recognisable people in situations that we can all relate to - including love, marriage, death, mourning, guilt, the need to make difficult choices, separation, reunion and reconciliation. They do so with great humanity, tolerance, and wisdom. They help us to understand what it is to be human, and to cope with the problems of being so.

Act I

In the French province of Roussillon, the widowed Countess bids farewell to her son Bertram. Bertram is going to the court of the French King with his swaggering friend Paroles and the Lord Lafeu. Bertram leaves oblivious to the attentions of Helen, the orphan daughter of the Countess's celebrated physician. Helen has been brought up in his mother's household and has fallen in love with Bertram.

Act II

The Countess allows Helen to go to court and try her hand at curing the King's illness. Where others have failed, she succeeds, and as a reward, the King asks her to choose a husband from among his wards. (Who else would she choose but Bertram?) Bertram sees the alliance as beneath him. After the marriage ceremony, he runs away and plans to join the wars in Italy with Paroles.

Act III

He writes to Helen that he will not acknowledge their marriage until she can prove she wears his heirloom ring and carries his child. Helen returns home to Roussillon, but she does not give up. Instead, she soon leaves and, disguised as a pilgrim, follows Bertram to Florence. There, she befriends a widow and her daughter Diana. Meanwhile, Bertram has formed an obsession with Diana during his time in Italy. The soldiers jokingly trick Paroles into proving he is a coward, while Bertram makes intentions to sleep with Diana.