In 1910s London, Helen Schlegel briefly gets engaged to Paul Wilcox during a moment of passion. Later, her sister Margaret befriends Paul’s mother Ruth. Ruth unexpectedly bequeaths Margaret the family house, but the will goes missing after her death. However, Ruth’s widower soon falls for Margaret.

Fans of Merchant-Ivory will rightly expect lush period settings and some of the great talents in British cinema—like Vanessa Redgrave, Anthony Hopkins & Helena Bonham Carter. But this emotional epic of forsaken love also remarkably teems with rage at the class divisions in Edwardian-era England.