Introduction:The film is comprised of four parts, corresponding to the
four parts of the novel. Some scenes are shown several times from different
perspectives.

Briony Tallis, 13, an aspiring writer, and her adult sister Cecilia, are two
of three children of a well-to-do English family. Robbie Turner, about Cecilia’s
age, is the housekeeper’s son, close to the family. After winning a grammar
school scholarship, he was educated, like Cecilia, at Cambridge University — his
fees paid by Cecilia’s father — and is headed for medical school, but is
spending the summer gardening on the Tallis estate. Tallis cousin Lola Quincey,
age 15, and her younger twin brothers are visiting the family amidst their
parents’ divorce. Leon, the girls’ brother, brings home a friend, Paul Marshall,
who owns a chocolate factory that is acquiring a contract to produce army
rations. They all gather in the Tallis home to celebrate Briony’s birthday..