'Florence Foster Jenkins" is a fairy tale of glorious optimism and unclouded love. The titular lady (a real-life New York heiress and socialite during the 1940s) goes chasing after her dream of becoming an opera singer with a mountain of passion but zero talent. To say that Florence (played by the ever-brilliant Meryl Streep) can't sing is an understatement of monumental proportions. The lady has a lifelong love of music and insists at every turn that she can't live without it, yet her ear completely fails her when it comes to catching her own tone-deafness.

But Florence is a lovely person: generous, exuberant and funny in an era when women rarely had the opportunity to be funny. It's easy to see why her younger almost-husband (they keep separate apartments), a British national with the luxuriously aristocratic name of St. Clair Bayfield (Hugh Grant) — adores her. He also goes to great lengths to protect her from malicious gossip or anything less than the highest praise. Bayfield even pays off music critics (OK, it's actually Florence's money, but his intentions are gold!) to write rave reviews of her private performances, which she gives in the living room of her resplendent Manhattan apartment.

The movie is set in 1944, with the United States in the grip of World War II. With no public money to fund the arts but everyone needing their spirits lifted, Florence feels that it's up to her to keep the flame of good music alive. She does so by regularly donating huge sums of cash to orchestras and conductors and almost anyone who calls himself "maestro." Then, much to the consternation of Bayfield, Florence decides this would be a fine time for her to wow the crowd at Carnegie Hall.