Military doctor General Klenski is arrested in Stalin's Russia in 1953 during an anti-Semitic political campaign accused of being a participant in so-called doctors' plot.
A mathematician and author, Luke Williams, is travelling up to London on a train when he meets a old lady, Lavinia Fullerton, who is also going to London, to Scotland Yard. Lavinia tells Luke that in her small village several people have died. The local police are certain that it was all accidental and are taking no action but Lavinia isn't convinced. In London Luke watches, horrified, as Lavinia is run over in a hit and run and he becomes convinced that she was telling the truth. He travels down to the village and with the aid of a local girl, who is also convinced that the deaths were murder, sets out to solve the mystery.
电影改编自美国作曲家科尔·波特的生平。
故事发生在法国巴黎,美国人波特(凯文·克莱恩 Kevin Kline 饰)带着对未来的憧憬和远大梦想来到了这个处处充满了艺术气息的都市,在这里,波特结识了名叫琳达(艾什莉·贾德 Ashley Judd 饰)的美丽女子,琳达的出现重新唤起了波特对于女人的渴望,两人之间的关系迅速热络了起来,之后走入了婚姻的殿堂。
对于波特的事业,琳达十分关注,她将波特的作品推荐给了著名作曲家欧文(基思·艾伦 Keith Allen 饰),以此为契机,波特逐渐在业内站稳了脚跟。随着波特的逐渐出名,他和琳达之间的关系开始产生了裂缝,相爱但无法相守的两人沉浸在痛苦之中,一个家庭眼看就要破碎。