Swept from the Sea (known as Amy Foster in the UK) is a 1997 drama film directed by Beeban Kidron and starring Vincent Perez, Rachel Weisz, and Ian McKellen.

[2][3] Based on the 1901 short story "Amy Foster" by Joseph Conrad,[N 2] the film is about a doomed love affair between a simple country girl and a Ukrainian peasant who is swept onto the Cornish shore in 1888 after his emigrant ship sinks on its way to America.

[4] Yanko Góral, a Ukrainian peasant, is swept ashore on the coast of Cornwall, England, after his emigrant ship sinks on its way to the United States in 1888.

Amy is a loner who visits her parents, Mary and Isaac Foster every Sunday, despite receiving very little love from them.

Her father calls her a "queer sort" who collects things that wash ashore, and blames her for his scandalous marriage—Mary was already pregnant before they were married.

Having gained a newfound respect for the stranger, the Swaffers take him in, start paying him for his labor, and give him normal working hours.

Yanko learns from the doctor that Miss Swaffer, on the eve of her wedding day, had a horse-riding accident and broke her spine.

Yanko purchases a new suit of clothes with the wages he's saved up, which gives him the courage to visit Amy and ask her to walk out with him.

To escape the hate, Amy takes Yanko to her secret cave filled with treasures she found on the shore, which she calls "gifts from the sea."

Believing he cannot leave because Amy has found a home in Cornwall, Yanko's greater concern is for his child and his future.

Shortly after, Amy arrives and takes her dying husband in her arms as he says, "I would change nothing, my love, my gold—we are the lucky ones."

"[4] In their review in Spirituality & Practice, Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat wrote, "Screenplay writer Tim Willocks has done a masterful job delineating the passionate love affair between these two outsiders who find in each other all they need.