Dye-doped cholesteric liquid crystals with a helical pitch of the order of a wavelength have a strong effect on the fluorescence properties of dye molecules. This is a promising system for realizing tunable lasers at low cost. We apply a plane wave model to simulate the spontaneous emission from a layer of cholesteric liquid crystal.We simulate the spectral and angle dependence and the polarization of the emitted light as a function of the order parameter of the dye in the liquid crystal.Measurements of the angle dependent emission spectra and polarization are in good agreement with the simulations.