The patterer

What would today's news be like if it had been invented back in the days of Charles Dickens? London, 1765 -- Leeds Merriweather is scratching out a living as a common street performer, a patterer, using his wit and storytelling skills to sell newspapers and all manner of literature. Inspired by a drunken, chance encounter with Benjamin Franklin, Leeds assembles a zany cast of characters to become history's first celebrity newscaster. But at the peak of his meteoric rise to fame and fortune, Leeds risks it all for the love of a conniving wench.