The Velvet Box is a fascinating portrait of what it is like for Sophie Gordon, a young girl struggling to cope with life while passionately desiring to become an accomplished artist. Her backstage life is filled with competition, jealousies, and disappointments, as well as many colorful backstage characters. All this puts her through a gauntlet of turmoil. Sophies personal life is as dramatic and full of adventure as her professional life. She has two delightful but complicated romances, one with her fellow actor Ian Lennox and the other with Richard Neville, her theatrical impresario. Richard has been fascinated with Sophie from the first time he met her. She also has attracted the attention of several royal personages throughout her story. All this while she is trying to reconnect with her father, who has come back into her life after a nine-year absence. These trials and tribulations help Sophie to maneuver into the adult world.