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William Masters (Gabriel Byrne), an aloof and analytical young man studying the life of Sir Isaac Newton, takes up residence in a cottage on a family estate and then becomes involved with the family's own troubles. Masters is secretly enamored of the lady of the house who is burdened with an alcoholic husband, but he has an affair with her niece. This is a prescription for disaster, especially given the young man's tendency to strait-jacket his feelings. Director Kevin Billington has also used an aloof and analytical approach to the story, as a reflection of Masters' own perspective -- yet that treatment does not effectively bring out the psychological turmoil that underlies the restrained behavior of the protagonists -- and distances the audience as well.