When the Gutenberg patriarch dies in the year 1419, daughter Elsie is sent away to stay with family friends. Always one to make the best of a bad situation, she finds her way into an apprenticeship in master painter Jan Van Eyck’s studio. In the song Illumination Van Eyck teaches Elsie and his other students about the importance of the visual artists’ work -- not for the sake of the artist himself, but for the glorification of God, and by extension, Truth. The moment sparks Elsie’s passion for engraving, a passion that grows into her life’s work as the Master of the Playing Cards.

Ivette, a servant girl, gives birth to a daughter who is to become the heir of the Fust household. While Ivette knows her daughter’s life will be better than her own, she grieves the loss of her child who will never know her as blood. Elsie observes the fact that her illuminations in the Gutenberg Bible and her work as Master of the Playing Cards will remain forever anonymous. Joined by Nina (John’s abandoned fiancé), Margaret and Joan, the women find themselves bound together through this song as they confront their past selves and watch their stories being collectively erased from written history.