Struggling UC Santa Cruz grad student Willie Shakespeare Greenberg is trying to write his thesis about the Bard. Kind of. Having been cut off by his father for laziness, and desperate for cash, Willie agrees to deliver a single, giant, psychedelic mushroom to a mysterious collector, only to find himself a target in Ronald Reagan's War on Drugs.

Meanwhile, would-be playwright (and oppressed Catholic) William Shakespeare is eighteen and stuck teaching Latin in the boondocks of Stratford-upon-Avon. The future Bard is asked to deliver a contraband box of sacramental wafers blessed by the Pope at a time when Catholics are being hanged, drawn and quartered as traitors. When 1980s Willie, cornered by DEA agents and one too many girlfriends, eats the giant mushroom at a Renaissance Fair, and 1580s William takes his first communion at his own shotgun wedding, their minds and stories merge--allowing each to become the fully-realised Shakespeare he is destined to be.