Dr. Stephen Fleming (Irons), a physician by training who has entered politics and become Secretary of State for the Environment, leads a privileged life in London with his wife Ingrid (Richardson) and young daughter Sally (Gemma Clarke). Their adult son, Martyn (Graves), a rising young journalist, lives elsewhere in London. At a diplomatic reception, Stephen meets a young woman named Anna Barton (Binoche), the daughter of a British diplomat and Elizabeth Prideaux (Leslie Caron), her four-times married French people mother who "lives in Palm Springs, California". Anna, who works in the arts and antiques department at Sotheby's auction house, introduces herself as a close friend of Martyn's but it is apparent that Stephen and Anna are instantly attracted to each other.