Behind their neat facades of Victorian propriety, Anthony Trollope's characters are bursting with life. A flirtatious vicar, two squabbling sisters, an ingenue and her meddling aunt surround Louis and Emily Trevelyan in the first blissful year of their married life. But many things take a darker turn when the roguish Colonel Osborne (Bill Nighy) takes an interest in Emily, and fans the flames of Louis's jealousy.

In an atmosphere thick with romance and rumour, Louis finds it all too easy t accuse his wife and force her from the house along with their young son. Obsessed with the imagined seduction, he descends into darkness, determined to destroy everything he loves.