20世纪30年代，少女时期的Judith Dunbar (Keira Knightley)是一个安静、温和的女孩。由于她在殖民地的父母的缘故，她被送去寄宿学校。Judith在她姑姑和监护人死后，被她最好的朋友Loveday Carey Lewis (Poppy Gaye)的家庭收养。Judith 热爱他们的家南切罗庄园，并与Loveday的哥哥Edward (Paul Bettany)相爱。战争开始，所有人受到波及。Judith (Emily Mortimer)失去了双亲，而Loveday (Katie Ryder Richardson)的未婚夫也死于战火。Judith 与Loveday的另一个兄长相爱。而Edward在战争中双目失明，最终选择带有尊严的死亡。

On the brink of her 30th birthday, Fanny feels the door to marital happiness closing on her. She is obsessed with death and even visits evening classes on dying, so it seems fitting that she encounters a skeleton in the malfunctioning elevator of her apartment building. The skeleton is her neighbour Orfeo, a Black, gay, self-declared psychic, who convinces her that she is about to meet "him". But is it really Lothar, the new yuppie apartment manager ...?