Helena Bonham Carter and Emma Thompson are the central figures in James Ivory's adaptation of E M Forster's novel of love, treachery and revenge. Bonham Carter falls for Paul Wilcox but is rebuffed.
Her sister Thompson becomes friends with his mother who promises her the family house, Howards End. But after her death, the will disappears and it appears the inheritance will disappear. Until the widower, Anthony Hopkins, becomes attracted to Thompson.