James Ivory's film stars Isabelle Adjani and Anthony Higgins as husband and wife who meet up with Alan Bates and his wife Maggie Smith. Adjani and Bates begin an affair while Higgins, imprisoned for petty theft, remains oblivious to the adultery. Based on Jean Rhys' roman a clef which tells of her affair with Ford Maddox Brown in 20s Paris, what is initially a tale of romance turns into one of tragedy.