After years working in Brazil, middle-aged engineer Martin Boyner returns to Switzerland to marry his longtime friend, the recently widowed Rose Sellars. En route, he encounters an old acquaintance and soon finds himself entranced by and then caring for her seven emotionally abandoned children. The oldest girl, Judith, quickly beguiles Martin with her unsettling blend of innocence and maturity. And suddenly Martin's orderly blueprint for the future is thrown into disarray as Judith's youth and spirit transform his routine life into a dangerously passionate new equation.

Ben Kingsley
as Martin Boyne

Kim Novak
as Rose Sellars

Karen Black
as Sybil Lullmer

Geraldine Chaplin
as Joyce Wheater

Britt Ekland
as Zinnia Wrench

Rupert Graves
as Gerald Ormerod

Marie Helvin
as The Princess

Rosemary Leach
as Scopy

Terence Rigby
as The Duke of Mendip

Donald Sinden
as Lord Wrench