Both inspired and haunted by the deaths of everyone he loves, Edgar Allan Poe fights poverty, enemies, and his own demons to become one of America’s most famous writers.

SYNOPSIS:

After his mother’s death, EDGAR ALLAN POE moves in with the Allan family. His surrogate mother, FANNY, gives Poe love and encouragement, while her husband, JOHN ALLAN, instills in the young poet only depression and self-doubt. Poe is torn between contempt for what he sees as Allan’s lifestyle and the money-grubbing nature of his business, and his need for the love, protection, and financial support that the Allan family offers. Tensions mount to open hostility as Poe displays his passion for poetry and declares his intention to be a writer rather than join in the family business. John Allan does all he can to block Poe's literary pursuits as well as his love for the wealthy young ELMIRA ROYSTER.

At every turn Poe's passions are hindered as Allan and Elmira's father force him further and further away from her and into the waiting arms of alcohol, gambling, and eventually the United States Army with his best friend SARTAIN. After being expelled from West Point, Poe immerses himself in his literary passions finally gaining recognition by winning a story contest in a newspaper. With his foot in the door at last, Poe slowly begins to publish more and more of his writings, garnering the attention of the strange minister, RUFUS GRISWOLD, a would-be poet himself whose failure at that pursuit has not discouraged him from becoming a fairly influential literary critic. The men are complete opposites, Poe the irreverent Southern romantic with an extreme enjoyment of women and alcohol, Griswold the pious booster of the New England transcendental movement.

Between Poe and Griswold grows a connection that will not be broken until Poe dies at the end of the story. Griswold, like a sinister groupie, is forever appearing in Poe’s life when times are most desperate for the poet, often taking the form of the judge and jury in Poe's horrific fantasies that gradually take hold of the writer's life. Moving in with his brother, Poe falls in love with a relative of his, the young girl, VIRGINIA, and soon marries her. With her support Poe begins to find some success through editing of a magazine and reciting his latest work "The Raven." Just as his professional and personal lives appear to be financially improving and psychologically calming, Virginia dies of consumption. Poe is again forced to face Griswold and the cold- hearted public that has never warmed to his dark poems and stories.

Needing emotional security Poe returns to his first love, Elmira Royster, now a rich widow, and through much cajoling, convinces her to marry him as soon as he returns from a speaking tour through the northern states. However, Poe is looked upon as a scoundrel and fortune-seeker by Elmira's family who pressure him never to return home to her if he values his life. A he travels north, Poe's psychological demons begin to meld with the possible reality that the brothers have hired an assassin to make sure Poe never returns. Poe, of a paranoid nature to begin with, seeks to throw off his enigmatic follower. With the help of his old friend Sartain who now lives in Philadelphia, Poe finds the refuge and disguise he needs to attempt a return to the woman he loves. However, his followers are as doggedly determined to see he does not return, and he is ambushed in Baltimore, drugged and left to be found in a debauched state that will discredit him with Richmond society and his bride-to-be.

Unfortunately, Poe falls ill instead, and dies in a delirium, Griswold gloating over him as he promises to bury his reputation as well as his body. Griswold’s promise is never fulfilled as Poe's fame only continues to rise in the years following his death and Griswold slowly vanishes into the recesses of history, a footnote beneath the name of Edgar Allan Poe.