The scene is set on the island of Jersey, in the immediate aftermath of World War II. Grace Stewart is a Catholic mother, who lives with her two small children in a remote country house. The children, Anne and Nicholas, have an uncommon disease characterized দ্বারা photosensitivity (a special feature on the DVD indicates the disease is xeroderma pigmentosum), so their lives are structured around a series of complex rules designed to protect them from inadvertent exposure to sunlight.

The new arrival of three servants at the house (an aging nanny and servant named Mrs. Bertha Mills, an elderly gardener...