Cerianne Burton works at the Palace Theatre, a place of glamour and excitement to the people of Swansea at the turn of the twentieth century. But although she is only a menial cleaner, she dreams of seeing her name up in lights. Abused by the ruthless manager of the theatre, she is thrown out on the streets and forced into a brutal marriage with a widower who has five young children. Her life becomes one of hopeless drudgery, but she still has her ambitions ... and one day she is able to return in triumph to the Palace and have her revenge on the manager who set out to ruin her all those years ago.