This is the true story of the romance and marriage of American poet/novelist Sylvia Plath (Paltrow) and English poet Ted Hughes (Craig). Born in Boston during the Great Depression, Plath first attended Smith College, which was also the setting for her first suicide attempt. Receiving a Fulbright scholarship, she traveled to England to attend Cambridge, where she met a dashing young poet who would win her heart, and ultimately become her husband. Their marriage was rocky, however, and they eventually separated in 1963 when Hughes broke her heart by taking on another lover, Assia Wevill. Crushed, Plath attempted suicide again (by famously sticking her head in her unlit oven), and was successful. Hughes went on to publicly accept responsibility for causing her lethal anguish.