Merchant Ivory Productions.

Margaret and Helen Schlegel are sisters from a well-educated European family. A series of events brings them into a relationship with the very English Wilcox family. Both families also come into contact with Leonard Bast and his wife, a couple near the lowest tier of the rigid class system. Leonard's desire for cultural and intellectual status attracts the attention of Helen. Margaret must reconcile her independent spirit with her desire for companionship...

After winning a grant, Omar Razaghi travels to the estate of the late Uruguayan author Jules Gund in order to convince his three executors to let him write an authorized biography.