At the London Coliseum, we see the problems and intricacies of a television rehearsal in Dame Janet's celebrate portrayal of Mary in Gaetano Donizetti's Mary Stuart. The culmination of the year's events takes place at picturesque Glyndebourne with Dame Janet's triumphant performance in Gluck's Orfeo. It is a highly charged emotional occasion with private backstage moments carefully woven round the public appearance on stage.

Interspersed between the three operas are sequences from New York's Carnegie Hall, where Dame Janet receives a standing ovation after a recital, and in contrast to this electric atmosphere, a recital in the more relaxed surroundings of Scotland's Haddo Hall, where whe sings the Angel in Edward Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius.

Informal moments at home with her husband, friends and colleagues, together with interview sequences with Dame Janet complete a remarkable insight into the life of one of music's most sympathetic and articulate singers.