Young Tess Durbeyfield attempts to restore her family's fortunes by claiming their connection with the aristocratic d'Urbervilles. But Alec d'Urberville is a rich wastrel who seduces her and makes her life miserable. When Tess meets Angel Clare, she is offered true love and happiness, but her past catches up with her and she faces an agonizing moral choice...

When low-born, country girl Tess Durbeyfield is driven by family poverty to claim kinship with the wealthy D'Urbervilles, a series of tragedies befalls her as she comes under the influence of the manipulative Alec D'Urberville.