The film was based upon the non-fiction book White Mischief: The Murder of Lord Erroll (1982), by James Fox, which originated from a newspaper article published in 1969.

The cast also includes Sarah Miles, Geraldine Chaplin, and Ray McAnally, Murray Head, John Hurt, and Trevor Howard.

Throughout the Second World War, aristocrats in the Kenya Colony's Happy Valley region often led hedonistic lifestyles of indulgence in alcohol, drugs, and extramarital relationships.

On 24 January 1941, Josslyn Hay, the philandering Earl of Erroll, was found dead in his car in a secluded area, with his reputation for adulterous relationships preceding him.

Diana has indeed succumbed to the charms of the roguish Earl of Erroll, whose other lovers include the drug-addicted American heiress Alice de Janzé and the more reserved Nina Soames.

She is reluctant to leave what she thinks is the financial security of her marriage to formalise her relationship with Erroll (who has no funds or prospects), unaware that her husband is deep in debt.

Privately humiliated but appearing to honour their agreement, Delves Broughton publicly toasts the couple's affair at the club in Nairobi, asking Erroll to bring Diana home at a specified time.

A local plantation owner, Gilbert Colvile, whose only friend is Delves Broughton, quietly offers Diana advice and solace and ultimately shocks her by proposing marriage.

The financing was sourced from a chain of Canadian cinemas (Cineplex Odeon, Goldcrest Films and Nelson Entertainment), and the remaining amount came from Columbia Pictures, then under David Puttnam as head of production.

The real Alice De Janzé shot herself on 30 September 1941,[14] while Jock Delves Broughton eventually returned to England and committed suicide by morphine overdose in the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool in December 1942, over a year later.