The year is 1826. Ludwig van Beethoven (Tobias Moretti) faces the final stanza of his storied career. Deaf and defiant, he recalls memories of his youth, when as an eight-year-old prodigy he comes under the tutelage of the Bonn court organist, Christian Gottlob Neefe. Years later after an encounter with Mozart, the young “Louis” begins to study under Joseph Haydn in Vienna, but family tragedies and unfulfilled love leave a lasting mark that haunts him for the rest of his life.