Plot Summary

Giles De'Ath (Sir John Hurt), a widower, stuffy British author, gets locked out of his house one day and opts to see an E.M. Forster adaptation at a local cinema to pass the time. He mistakenly goes into the wrong theater, and as he is about to leave the puerile American movie, notices a young actor who immediately strikes his fancy. From there, we go on a journey with Giles as his obsession with the mediocre young actor goes from slight interest to a real obsession. This evolution ultimately brings him to Chesterton, Long Island, home of the actor. His miraculous encounter with the lad in some ways pushes the reserved Brit's emotional threshold over the top.