Plot Summary:Adam Verver, a US billionaire in London, dotes on daughter Maggie, an innocent abroad. An impecunious Italian, Prince Amerigo, marries her even though her best friend, Charlotte Stant, an alabaster beauty with brains, no money, and a practical and romantic nature, is his lover. She and Amerigo keep it secret from Maggie that they know each other, so Maggie interests her widowed father in Charlotte, who is happy with the match because she wants to be close to Amerigo. Charlotte desires him, the lovers risk discovery, Amerigo longs for Italy, Maggie wants to spare her father pain, and Adam wants to return to America to build a museum. Amidst lies and artifice, what fate awaits adulterers?
故事发生在十九世纪的英格兰,落魄的意大利贵族艾莫雷戈(杰瑞米·诺森 Jeremy Northam 饰)迎娶了美国富豪亚当(尼克·诺特 Nick Nolte 饰)的女儿玛姬(凯特·贝金赛尔 Kate Beckinsale 饰)。玛姬有一位闺中密友名为夏洛特(乌玛·瑟曼 U ma Thurman 饰),巧合的是,夏洛特竟然是艾莫雷戈曾经的恋人。 之后,亚当取了夏洛特为妻,一家人就这样生活在了一起。一次偶然之中,玛姬发现了艾莫雷戈和夏洛特之间的旧情,霎时间,她对丈夫的信任破裂了。实际上,亚当亦知晓此事,只是为了保护女儿不受伤害,他选择了守口如瓶。对于艾莫雷戈来说,事情就更加复杂了,亚当和玛姬之间坚实的父女之情让他始终觉得自己是插足其中的第三者。