Elizabeth McGovern

In the summer of 1930, the Crawleys grapple with the threat of social disgrace when Mary finds herself at the center of a public scandal and the family faces financial trouble.

The dowager countess inherits a villa in the south of France from a man she once knew. The family travels to France to find out why he willed it to her.

The Crawleys must prepare to welcome the King and Queen of England, a visit that will unleash scandal, romance, and intrigue, leaving the fate of Downton hanging in the balance.

In 1958, Joan Archer (Annie Starke) meets Joseph Castleman (Harry Lloyd), a handsome young married professor at a women-only college. Although already an accomplished (if unpublished) writer, Joan is awed by Joseph's force of personality and advice that "a writer must write, as one must breathe". Joseph had the habit of cracking and eating Walnuts while in conversation. Joseph starts by inviting Joan to babysit his daughter while he takes his wife Carol on a date. Joseph demonstrates to Joan how miserable his life is in his own house. Gradually, Joan falls in love with Joseph. They begin an affair on the college campus. Joan meets a published alumni authoress Elaine Mozell (Elizabeth McGovern), whose cynical views on opportunities for female writers disheartens Joan. Elaine says that the public cannot stomach bold prose from a woman. Elaine tells Joan that female writers will never catch the attention of the editors and the publishers who make the decisions that make or break careers. Two years later, Joseph has been fired for having an affair with Joan, his marriage is failing, and his first attempt at writing a novel turns out very poor. Joan, a secretary at a publishing house, observes how the all-male editors dismiss women writers. When Joan criticizes Joseph's work, he threatens to end his relationship with her, claiming she cannot love "a hack". Joan agrees to fix Joseph's novel for him. The work, titled The Walnut, is published and becomes a bestseller. By 1968, Joseph and Joan are living in a large seaside home in Connecticut. Joan is hard at work writing a novel, to be published under Joseph's name, while Joseph supports her by cooking, cleaning, and caring for their first child, David (Max Irons). As Joseph and Joan converse, it is apparent that Joan's novel is a reflection of their life together, which bores Joan. A narcissist, over the next four decades Joseph has several adulterous affairs and tells everyone that Joan "does not write". By 1992, an elderly Joseph (Jonathan Pryce) has become a celebrated author. Jospeh and Joan are civil to each other and Joan still has sex with Joseph, even though it is unenthusiastic. Joseph is awaiting a call from the Nobel Prize committee. In the early hours of the morning, the long-awaited call arrives, and Joseph learns that he has won the Nobel prize in Literature, although Joan (Glenn Close) seems less than happy about the honor. The committee says that Joseph's career has a remarkable span to it, he writes with extraordinary intimacy, wit and depth, and has also challenged the novel form in many ways which would inspire authors for many generations to come. David, who idolizes his father, seeks Joseph's critique of and approval for his first short story, unaware that Joan has written all Joseph's books. Joseph, Joan, and David fly to Stockholm as Nathaniel Bone (Christian Slater), a biographer with a taste for scandal, tries to embed himself into the Castleman's lives. Susannah, their daughter, is unable to travel as she is pregnant and is due anytime. Joseph is irritated with Nathaniel that somehow he got on the same flight as them and won't give him permission to write his biography. In Stockholm, Walter Bark (Johan Widerberg) is assigned to Joseph to take care of all his official engagements. Linnea (Karin Franz Korlof) is assigned as Joseph's personal photographer. Joseph can sense that Joan is not happy and is not enjoying the trip to Stockholm. Joan's unhappiness worsens as adulation is heaped on Joseph. Joseph enthralls his audience with snippets from his life and he enjoys basking in the spotlight. His attempts to publicly thank her for supporting him only embitter her further. Joan does not want Joseph to thank her in his speech. David is also feeling left out as Joseph continually refers to him as an "emerging writer" who is still trying to find his voice. David believes that he will never measure up to his father, who has a hit novel right out of the gate. David says that Joseph has not even read his short story, to which Joseph responds that it is a solid start, but not a work of genius which is what David wants to hear. Nathaniel, sensing Joan's emotional state, induces her to talk with him over drinks and says that he knows that Joan has ghostwritten a major portion or even all of each of Joseph's novels. Joan does not admit the truth, but Nathaniel is convinced by their conversation that he is correct. Meanwhile, Joseph tries to seduce the beautiful young photographer Linnea who is assigned to him. Joseph is unable to consummate the affair due to his cardiovascular disease. Joseph accuses Joan of abandoning him, while Joan expresses her outrage over Joseph's attempted affair. The argument ceases when they learn that their daughter Susannah (Alix Wilton Regan) has given birth to their grandson. The night of the Nobel Prize ceremony, David confronts his parents after being told by Nathaniel that Joan is the only writer in the family. Joseph and Joan deny everything. At the ceremony and banquet which follows, Joan becomes increasingly upset by the accolades showered on Joseph. At the ceremony and the banquet which follows, Joan feels increasingly humiliated because Joe praises her as his support, his muse, his soul. She flees and Joseph follows her. He demands that she take his Nobel Prize, but she refuses. At their hotel, Joan tells Joseph she is divorcing him. They argue violently, and Joseph has a heart attack. Prostrate on the bed, he begs for Joan's love, and she tells him she loves him; he replies, "You're such a good liar," and dies moments later. On the airplane back to the United States, Nathaniel offers his condolences to Joan. She tells him that if he tries to print anything that undermines Joseph's reputation as a writer, she will sue him. David overhears her. Joan says that she will tell David and his sister the truth when they get home. She then turns the page to the journal she had opened, runs her hand over a blank page, and looks up.

In 1910 London, England, Kate Croy (Helena Bonham Carter) lives under the careful watch of her domineering Aunt Maude (Charlotte Rampling). The wealthy Maude has taken the penniless Kate in, intending to marry her to a rich man and save her from the fate which befell her recently deceased mother when she married Kate's own dissolute estranged father, Lionel (Michael Gambon), who swandered most of the family's money to support his drug addiction. Lord Mark (Alex Jennings), a sophisticated aristocrat with a large estate, begins to court Kate with Maude's approval. However Kate is secretly in love with a young muckraking journalist named Merton Densher (Linus Roache), whom her aunt has forbidden her from pursuing a relationship with because of his humble circumstances. Nonetheless she has continued to meet with Merton in secret, though he is growing increasingly impatient for her to leave her aunt and marry him. Aunt Maude confronts Kate about her continuing association with Densher and threatens to withdraw her financial support from Kate and her father. Kate reluctantly breaks with Merton and refuses to meet with him anymore. A few months later, at a dinner party given by her aunt, Kate is introduced to the wealthy American orphan and heiress Milly Theale (Alison Elliott), who is on an extended trip through Europe with her travelling companion Susan Stringham (Elizabeth McGovern). The cynical Kate is captivated by Milly's beauty, vivaciousness and humor, and the two form a strong friendship. Kate and Merton reconcile and resume their secret meetings; one day they run into Milly and Kate introduces Merton as a friend. Soon after Milly invites Kate to accompany her and Susan to Venice. Before leaving town, Lord Mark secretly reveals to Kate that Milly is terminally ill and that although he desires Kate he has to marry Milly to avoid losing his estates. Aware that Milly is indifferent to Lord Mark but is smitten with Merton, Kate invites Merton to Venice and persuades him to show Milly affection in an effort to seduce her. Kate expects that the orphaned and lonely Milly will leave him her fortune after her death. During Kate's, Milly's, and Merton's excursions through Venice, Kate gradually becomes jealous of Milly's attraction to Merton, so much so that she lures him away one night to have sex. Milly confronts her the next morning, though Kate denies that Merton is her lover. She realizes that she must leave, without warning Merton, if her scheme is to succeed. On their own in Venice, Merton's affection for Milly grows ever stronger and the two form a strong bond, even as her condition worsens. One day Merton spots Lord Mark at a cafe; alarmed, he goes to visit Milly but is denied entry. Susan visits him and Merton realizes that Kate has revealed their secret to Lord Mark to sabotage the whole scheme, knowing that Mark would tell Milly as revenge for her jilting him. Nonetheless Milly agrees to see Merton and the two share an intimate moment where she forgives him and says that she still loves both him and Kate, despite their actions. A few days later, Milly dies and Merton and Susan attend her funeral. A few weeks later, Merton returns to London where on one rainy evening Kate comes to Merton's flat. She asks why he has not come to see her in the weeks he has been back and finds a letter from Milly's attorneys, informing Merton that Milly did indeed bequeath a sizable portion of her estate to him. Merton tells Kate that he will not take the money, and she must marry him without it if they are to be together. She agrees, and they make love. But afterwards, Kate asks him to tell her that he is not still in love with Milly, or his memory of her, and he cannot. Kate leaves him for good, knowing that her conniving has backfired. Merton returns to Venice, alone.

St. Louis, Missouri. 1933 At the height of the Great Depression, eighth grade student Aaron Kurlander (Jesse Bradford) presents a writing assignment about his hero, pilot Charles Lindbergh who flew solo across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927. After school, Aaron chastises his younger brother, Sullivan (Cameron Boyd), for attempting to steal another child's dessert. At the fleabag Empire Hotel where they live, Sullivan begs Aaron to teach him how to play marbles, and the older boy reluctantly gives him a few to practice with. Upstairs, the boys return to their room to learn that Sullivan will be sent to stay with their uncle until their father, Eric (Jeroen Krabbé), can get a job selling watches and save enough money to move into an apartment. Back at school, Aaron saves wealthy student Billy Thompson (Chris Samples) from being bullied by challenging the tormentors to a game of marbles. He easily defeats them, and Billy invites Aaron to his house in a gesture of gratitude. There, Billy shows Aaron his collection of canaries and offers him a female to mate with his own bird, Skippy. Reluctant to admit his father's lowly profession, Aaron tells Billy and his mother, Mrs. Thompson, that he flies airplanes for the government. At school, Aaron's teacher, Miss Mathey (Karen Allen), notices that the Kurlander's address is no longer current and asks the boy for his new residence. Again reluctant and embarrassed to tell the truth that his family is homeless and residing in a hotel, Aaron provides a false location and name, claiming that his father works for the government, but Miss Mahey learns the truth when she follows him home. Later, Mrs. Kurlander (Lisa Eichhorn) reveals that she must return to a sanitarium for treatment of her worsening tuberculosis. Over the weekend, Aaron joins his older friend, Lester Silverstone (Adrian Brody), working as a golf caddie, but the job does not go well and Lester tells him to return home. At the hotel, a shy neighbor teenage girl named Ella McShane (Amber Benson) invites Aaron over for food and asks him to dance to some radio music, but she suddenly collapses in an epileptic fit. That evening, with his mother away, Aaron prepares tomato soup for himself and his father using ketchup and hot water. One afternoon, Aaron recruits Lester to help him move his father's illegally parked car before the inquisitive Patrolman Burns (John McConnell) has it ticketed. Once Lester pushes the vehicle, Aaron fails to pump the brakes and it rolls down a steep street, narrowly avoiding a boys' stick-ball game and oncoming traffic. Lester catches up with him when the car finally stops, and the boys return to the hotel. Mr. Kurlander announces he has taken a job as a traveling watch salesman, forcing him to miss Aaron's junior high school graduation the upcoming week. Now completely alone, Aaron is without food and decides to sell his newly-hatched canaries to a pet store. Although he expects to earn $3 per bird, the pet shop owner claims the brood consists of only females, which are deemed worthless because they cannot sing, and only gives him 50 cents. Using his last fifty cents, Aaron buys a kitten for Ella, who is recovering from another seizure. At school, he steals a sandwich from a gluttonous boy, prompting the wealthy Christina Sebastian (Katherine Heigl) to invite him to her graduation dinner after Billy Thompson's party. Upon realizing that his only suit jacket is too small, Lester takes Aaron to the storage room, where they steal items that have been repossessed from former tenants. On the day of the graduation, Aaron dresses in his new suit and Ella kisses him goodbye before her family moves to Illinois so she can get better treatment for her epilepsy. During the ceremony, he is shocked to be the recipient of an award for demonstrating good character. Afterward, at Billy's party, Aaron invents an elaborate excuse for why his parents did not attend graduation, and gossip quickly spreads. Aaron overhears a peer calling him a "charity case" who receives special treatment from the teachers. When Billy confronts him about his lies, Aaron flees the party and returns home to the hotel. At the Empire Hotel, Aaron discovers an eviction notice under the door because his father has failed to pay the rent. Although sympathetic, the hotel owner insists the bank will throw the Kurlanders out within three days. Aaron visits the sanitarium and yells up to his mother in her cell, but is unable to tell her the bad news. On his way home, he spots a former Empire Hotel resident now living in a nearby Hooverville (shanty town). Desperate, he visits his neighbor, Mr. Mungo, offering to sell his cigar band collection. Mr. Mungo understands Aaron's predicament and offers to speak to the hotel owner on his behalf. Later, Aaron forges a letter to his uncle requesting that Sullivan be sent home. The next morning, Aaron awakens to the sounds of a riot as the police raid the impoverished camps set up outside. Lester is arrested, but gives Aaron a prized pocketknife. Aaron rushes back inside before the hotel's malicious bellhop prematurely locks him out of his room. When Mr. Mungo leaves Aaron a note containing a new cigar band for his collection, Aaron attempts to thank him, but notices water and blood oozing from under his neighbor's door. He walks into the apartment and discovers that Mr. Mungo has slit his wrists in a suicide. After finishing the last of his stale dinner rolls, Aaron arranges magazine images of food on a plate and eats them. Later, he becomes ill and hallucinates the traumatizing events of the past few weeks. When he recovers, he curses his father and falls asleep again, only to be awakened by Sullivan knocking at the door. The boys tearfully hug and gorge on Sullivan's food that he brought with him until their father unexpectedly arrives. Overjoyed to see them, he announces that he got a new job as a clerk for the Works Progress Administration, which pays a $65 monthly salary. Mr. Kurlander suggests he avoid paying the outstanding hotel bill of $174 by leaving their belongings behind when they move to their new apartment, but Aaron refuses. He and Sullivan lower their suitcases out the window with a rope, packing everything but the suit Aaron and Lester stole, into their car. Sneaking into the basement storage room, Aaron retrieves a box of watercolor paints to return to the evicted tenant now living in the shanty down. While still in the basement, Aaron also locks all of the padlocks that the bellhop uses to lock deadbeat tenants out of their rooms and throws away the keys, leaving the padlocks useless. In the final scene, after Mr. Kurlander picks up his recovering wife from the sanitarium, the reunited family moves into their spacious new apartment at the Carleton Court.

Under a dystopian religious tyranny, most women cannot conceive children. Those young women who can live in a form of sexual slavery to provide children for influential families. In a future dystopian land (formerly the United States of America), the story tells of Kate, a "handmaid". Kate is a criminal, guilty of the crime of trying to escape and sentenced to become a Handmaid. Handmaids' sole function is to bear the children of influential men whose wives (like most women) have been rendered infertile due to pollution. After rigorous group training by "Aunt" Lydia ("Aunts" train and discipline handmaids) in the proper way to behave, Kate is assigned as Handmaid to the Commander. Kate is attracted to Nick, the Commander's chauffeur. At the same time, a resistance movement begins to challenge the regime. —Reid Gagle (updated by R.M. Sieger) In the not-too-distant future, the USA has become the Republic of Gilead. It is a tyrannically run state that brutally suppresses all opposition, whose policies are based primarily on the Old Testament and which downgrades women in particular to mere child bearers and deprives them of all rights. Former librarian Kate therefore tries to flee Gilead with her husband and their daughter. However, she is intercepted at the border and ends up as a "servant" of the state in the household of Commander Fred, one of the leading military officers in Gilead, and his wife Serena. They need Kate primarily for the purpose of procreation and henceforth call her "Offred". However, when she learns that Fred is incapable of procreating, Kate sees her position in jeopardy, as her predecessors have also been solely blamed for her failure to conceive. In her situation, Kate believes the best strategy is to maintain a good relationship with both the commander and his wife, especially as they both have ways of finding out where their daughter is. Through the commander's chauffeur, Nick, Kate hopes to escape, but must continue to be obedient. Her situation becomes untenable over time, and when she sees how her friends treat servants who do not fulfill their duties, she wants to act as quickly as possible. —Arte Following a coup, America is a country still at war with itself and ruled by a repressive Bible-inspired regime. Past pollution means only 1% of women can bear children, and anyone committing a crime and found to be a potential mother is put into an institution run by "Aunts" to be indoctrinated. One such young woman is Kate, who is turned over to Fred, a high ranking member of the security forces, to attempt to procreate. Kate then becomes known as "Offred" (for property "of Fred"). Serena, Fred's wife, is jealous and vicious. The state's grip seems to be tightening but Kate still has her own mind and she finds some other people who are prepared to resist. —Jeremy Perkins {J-26} (updated by R.M. Sieger)

Young newlyweds find out just how unprepared they are for their future together. Jake and Kristy Briggs are newlyweds. Being young, they are perhaps a bit unprepared for the full reality of marriage and all that it (and their parents) expect from them. Do they want babies? Their parents certainly want them to. Is married life all that there is? Things certainly aren't helped by Jake's friend Davis, who always seems to turn up just in time to put a spanner in the works. —Murray Chapman <muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au>

In 1942 California, two young men await induction into the U.S. Marines and say goodbye to their girlfriends. Henry and Nicky are small town pals from blue collar families with only a short time before they ship off to World War II. Henry begins romancing new-to-town Caddie Winger, believing her to be wealthy. Mischievious and irresponsible, Nicky gets into trouble which forces the other two to become involved, testing their relationship, as well as the friendship between the boys. —David Fowler In the Christmas of 1942, in Point Muir, California, the seventeen years-old Henry "Hopper" Nash is the best friend of the reckless Nicky, who dates the local Sally Kaiser. Henry and Nicky have enlisted themselves in the U.S. Marines and they are waiting to be summoned to travel very soon. When Henry sees the gorgeous Caddie Winger, he has a crush on her and follows Caddie to find where she lives. He discovers that her address is a fancy manor on the top of the hill and Henry believes she is a wealthy teenager while she is actually the daughter of the maid. Sooner Caddie and Henry date each other and they fall in love with each other. Meanwhile Sally gets pregnant and Nicky needs a large amount for an abortion. They try to raise the money and when Nicky is desperate, he takes an attitude that will test his friendship with Henry. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The accidental death of the older son of an affluent family deeply strains the relationships among the bitter mother, the good-natured father and the guilt-ridden younger son. Beth, Calvin, and their son Conrad are living in the aftermath of the death of the other son. Conrad is overcome by grief and misplaced guilt to the extent of a suicide attempt. He is in therapy. Beth had always preferred his brother and is having difficulty being supportive to Conrad. Calvin is trapped between the two trying to hold the family together.