In early-twentieth-century England, the young John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, orphaned and penniless, finds at school three companions with whom he forges a brotherhood based on a shared passion for literature, art and the word. Amid that camaraderie, the discovery of languages and his love for Edith Bratt, the seeds are sown of the imagination that will one day give shape to Middle-earth. But the outbreak of the First World War and the horror of the trenches threaten to shatter that bond. A biographical drama about the author's formative years, a portrait of friendship, love and creation forged in fire.