Into the drawing-rooms of New York society in the 1870s comes the beautiful Countess Ellen Olenska, surrounded by shocked whispers about her marriage to a rich Polish Count. A woman who leaves her husband can never be accepted in polite society.Newland Archer is engaged to young May Welland, but the charts of the Countess are too great to resist. Before long he sees that a terrible decision lies ahead of him - to choose a marriage approved by society, or the love of a woman whom society will never accept.