 In 1948 Manhattan, a diverse group of people are committed to making the fledgling Empire Network a success. Among them: a naive young woman (Hendricks) who s hired as a script girl; an idealistic programmer (Baker); and an aspiring director (Silver) who hopes to make Empire "the network that takes risks and makes new stars." Then there s Empire s president (Lloyd), an eccentric scientist whose bride (Ringwald) raises eyebrows at the network.