Taxicab driver James Flanagan takes an acting class, and is criticized by the instructor, Mr. Turner, for being too old. Flanagan is frustrated after spending years as a cab driver. One day, he is sexually solicited by Joe Lerner, an older gentleman he picks up in his taxicab. Flanagan aggressively turns Lerner down. In his home life, Flanagan lives alone, and has a girlfriend named Andrea. He is separated from his dispassionate wife, Mary, with whom he shares two sons, Danny and Sean. Danny wants to quit high school and attend the New York School of Gambling, and Sean is unemployed and still living at home. Flanagan visits his aging mother, who tells him she is proud of him. Later, he auditions for director Raphael Church of the Toronto Shakespeare Company. He impresses Church by knowing every Shakespearean sonnet by heart, but unknown to Flanagan, Joe Lerner is one of the play’s producers, and he has Flanagan dismissed from the audition. Later, he brings flowers to Andrea at her drawing class, but leaves when he observes another man flirting with her. Flanagan lies in bed with Andrea that night, but refuses to tell her what is bothering him. Flanagan is annoyed when he learns that his estranged wife, Mary, went to the movies with another man. He visits his mother and reminisces about his boyhood and his alcoholic, Shakespeare-loving father, who died when Flanagan was thirteen. In time, he tells Mary that he wants a divorce, and later has an argument with Andrea about his despondent attitude. Andrea demands he leave her home, but he returns to find her having dinner with the man from her art class, whom she introduces as her drawing instructor, Roberto Dellavanti. Despite claims they are only friends, Flanagan leaves in anger. He visits his sons at their mother’s apartment, and starts a fight with Mary’s date, Dr. Mark Coleman. Afterward, he drives aimlessly around in his taxicab, and arrives at an outdoor theater. Flanagan weeps as he rips pages from a book of Shakespeare. He returns to Andrea’s home and tells her he is quitting his job as a cab driver. Sometime later, his sons tell him that Mary eloped with Dr. Coleman, and Flanagan is happy for her. He pays another visit to his mother, who asks when he will marry Andrea. To make her happy, he tells her they will wed in three months. In time, Flanagan disguises himself and auditions again for Raphael Church. Joe Lerner is again in the audience, and demands that Flanagan leave. When Flanagan sees the man from his cab, he launches into an impromptu, theatrical tirade before leaving the stage. Church is impressed by his performance. Flanagan offers Church a ride in his taxicab, and drives to a public park, where Andrea awaits. He performs a monologue to a crowd of onlookers, and Church offers him a spot in the Toronto Shakespeare Company.