In the 1920s, famous English architect Francis Rattenbury fell in love with musician Alma Packington, who was half his age. He divorced his wife and married Alma, and was immediately ostracized by his community of Victoria, on Vancouver Island, Canada. Ratz and Alma resettled in Bournemouth, England, where Rattenbury failed to establish any new business. Alma, while having some success with song writing, became bored with her aging, depressed husband, and seduced their chauffeur, an 18-year-old. 

In a jealous rage the chauffeur murdered the architect with a carpenter’s mallet. When learning that the chauffeur was sentenced to hang, Alma stabbed herself repeatedly in the heart and died. 

Composer Tobin Stokes sets his own libretto in this new chamber opera in three acts, exploring ambition, addiction, love, and legacy, all set in a modern lyrical score influenced by the popular music of the 1930s.