Catherine Sloper (Jennifer Jason Leigh), favored by neither beauty nor brilliance, is a wallflower of another age. the daughter of a wealthy and distinguished physician (Albert Finney), she has forever been the victim of her father's callous remarks that she possesses none of her deceased mother's loveliness, charm or finesse. Under her father's oppression, Catherine is a shy and awkward young woman tottering into spinsterhood - until she is suddenly and tempestuously courted by the smooth and dashing wastrel, Morris Townsend (Ben Chaplin), with whom she falls wildly and completely in love. Catherine is also heir to an imposing fortune which leads her father to be highly suspicious of Morris' intentions. Encouraged by her incurably romantic and sympathetic Aunt Lavinia (Maggie Smith), Catherine is convinced that Morris loves her for herself alone. He is the first man to court her and she flies to him in perfect trust. When Morris asks for Catherine's hand, Dr. Sloper, replete with wealth and arrogance, is determined to convince his daughter that the only reason why a man of Townsend's exceptional comeliness and youthful charm could possibly be interested in her would be for her fortune. Thus, Catherine is forced to make a fateful choice that will affect her happiness - and the rest of her life.
