Commoner Charles Ryder (Matthew Goody Matthew Goode) enters Oxford with a dream and soon meets the eye-catching Sebastian Fleet (Ben Weishaw Ben Whishaw) and becomes friends with him. Sebastian is amazingly handsome, comes from a wealthy family, is sensitive and sad by nature. he takes Charles into his mansion, Bridgehead Manor, and introduces him to his family. Charles is soon infatuated with his sister Juliet (Haley Atwell Hayley Atwell), but Juliet gets engaged to a Catholic Rex (Jonathan Cake) under pressure from her mother, which makes Charles's relationship fruitless. And Sebastian's feelings for Charles can only end in ambiguity. Ten years later, Charles was already a famous painter, ran into Juliet on the ferry, tried to fall in love again and failed again, and learned that Sebastian had gone abroad. Back at Bridgehead Manor, Charles was already an officer, and the mansion had been completely dilapidated in the war.