The film stars Rachel Weisz, Sam Claflin, Iain Glen, Holliday Grainger, and Pierfrancesco Favino.

In the 1830s, a young orphan named Philip is adopted by his older cousin Ambrose, who raises him as a son on his large estate in Cornwall.

Despite societal beliefs of the necessity of motherhood, Philip grows up with a nearly complete absence of women in the household, before Ambrose leaves the estate for the sunnier climate of Florence to pursue better health.

Now a young man, Philip is left in the care of his godfather Nick Kendall, and learns through correspondence that Ambrose has wed their widowed, distant cousin Rachel in Florence.

She arrives at the estate, and, while he vows to confront her, he meets her in her boudoir, and he becomes infatuated by the older woman's beauty as they share tea.

Nick learns that she drastically has overdrawn her accounts and warns Philip that Rachel was notorious in Florence for her extravagance and lust.

Sometime after, Philip falls ill. As he recovers, he becomes suspicious of Rachel again and starts refusing her "special herbal tea," which she also made for Ambrose.

Years later, Philip, now married to Louise and a father of two, is tormented by Rachel's memory and the fact that he will never know whether she was innocent of his suspicions.

[9] The same month, Sam Claflin joined the cast,[10] stating he was interested because Philip was an ordinary, immature character, who was virginal until discovering Rachel.

[13] Glen said that when he received the screenplay, he could see Michell had structured the mystery so that Kendall would believe one thing until another piece of evidence arose, and developed his performance accordingly.

[17] With production designer Alice Normington, Michell selected filming locations in South Devon, Oxfordshire and Surrey, combining shots to create an idealistic setting.

[20] Weisz was costumed by Dinah Collin, who aimed for a fashion foreign to Cornwall, and consulted portraits to create an authentic classy appearance.

[36] Kenneth Turan highlighted Weisz's performance and the romantic mystery of the adaptation in the Los Angeles Times.

Club wrote that Michell was "making a welcome return to interesting movies" with this "mordant and fittingly morbid British film with a superbly cast Rachel Weisz.

[39] The Washington Post's Kristen Page-Kirby noted the film's emotions and the common experience of Philip's feelings of sexual entitlement.

[40] For The New York Times, Manohla Dargis wrote the scenery, cinematography and direction were consistently beautiful, but the film did not realize its full potential.