Jasper Gwyn, a famous English writer in his early forties, makes a far-reaching decision one day. In a newspaper article, he lists 52 things he no longer intends to do, including writing books. Instead, he decides to work as a "copyist" in his new life, creating portraits—not with brush and palette, but in written form. He rents a studio where people will pose for him, and they will later find themselves completely captured in his portraits. Until a young woman appears who eludes the strict rules of the copyist.