Dark River is a 1990 British film starring Tom Bell, Siân Phillips, Kate Buffery, Ian McNeice and Tony Haygarth.
A stranger named Deacon arrives in the tight-knit community, refusing to abide by its self-serving code.
Priestley, who uses his authority in the community to disguise his personal weaknesses; his daughter Lydia, who uses the men in the community as rungs in her climb out of provincialism; Yorkie, a sour, manipulative club barman; and widow and cocoa heiress Mrs Blessington, who plays puppet-master from a distance.
Deacon writes and publishes a novel which draws on their weaknesses, which becomes a success back home, causing problems for its author.
Before sunrise one morning, a boat sets sail upriver, carrying First Secretary Hugo Shrike and Deacon, who has made a rendezvous with a person he intends to kill.