Set in the early 1930s, Larita (Jessica Biel) meets John Whittaker (Ben Barnes (actor)) in Monaco. They marry and he takes his bride to the family mansion near Flintham in rural Nottinghamshire to meet his mother, Veronica Whittaker (Kristin Scott Thomas) and father, Major Jim Whittaker (Colin Firth) and his two sisters, Hilda (Kimberley Nixon) and Marion (Katherine Parkinson). Veronica, already predisposed to dislike her new daughter-in-law, is further disappointed to find that she, like Jim, speaks fluent French. Larita also meets John's former girlfriend and neighbour Sarah Hurst (Charlotte Riley), who is gracious about the marriage.