it's pygmalion and educating rita down under. in 1975, the communists captured saigon. a family of six flee, with their youngest, thanh, aged two. it's a terrifying escape on a tiny boat overloaded with desperate refugees. in melbourne, australia, english literature teacher, david, introduces shakespeare using the wit of groucho marx. david retires and hits a brick wall. broke and alone, he rents a shoebox in footscray surrounded by vietnamese immigrants. his neighbour is the now 25-year-old thanh who escaped decades ago. she only speaks vietnamese. he offers to teach her english, or rather elizabethan english, the language of shakespeare. she rattles off verily, forsooth and skimble-skamble, my lord. their relationship develops. has the young vietnamese woman fallen for her senior aussie teacher? with weird and wonderful family members interfering, can thanh succeed? will her love for david bring happiness? and will the bard ever get the same recognition as groucho marx?