Vienna in 1886 was a city of elegant caf?s, grand opera houses, and a thriving and adventurous artistic community. It is here where the twelve-year-old Emilie meets the controversial libertine and painter Klimt. Hired by her bourgeois father for basic drawing lessons, he introduces Emilie to a subculture of dissolute artists, wanton models, and decadent patrons; following Emilie as she blossoms from a na?ve young girl to one of Europe's most exclusive couturiers and Klimt's most beloved model and mistress ? the woman who posed for Klimt's masterpiece The Kiss and whose name he uttered with his dying breath.