Romantic tales from the late Victorian high society of love and loss. These unfold from the country houses of England to the drawing rooms of New York, from the palazzos of Venice to the art studios of London. Scoundrels and schemers collide with ingénues and admirers in the terribly intricate affairs of the heart.

London, the 1920s. Lottie and Rose are two married women who share the misery of empty marriages and decide to rent an Italian castle for the spring to get away. In order to save money, they advertise for two other women to join them. Mrs. Fisher is an elderly widow is struggling with a lonely and regimented existence. She jumps at the chance to join the vacation. Lady Caroline Dester is a gorgeous flapper who has been grabbed one too many times and...

This is a familiar archetypal story, which is exactly where its appeal lies. Relocated to a Southern military base, Joe is a soldier about to leave for flying school, planning to marry his longtime sweetheart Cindy Lou before he goes. But free-spirited parachute packer Carmen interferes, when Joe is tasked with delivering her to jail after she gets into a vicious fight with another woman. This begins their stormy romance, and ends with Joe AWOL,...

A young woman battles indecisiveness as she traverses the troubled waters of her love life and struggles to find her career path.

Julie Marsden is a Southern belle in pre-Civil War New Orleans with a knack for manipulating the men in her life. Scorned by the man she loves, she lashes out in revenge and destroys lives in the process.

A dry-witted, sexual, angry, grief-riddled woman hurls herself at modern living in London. She often escapes into momentary fantasy asides -- letting an imaginary audience hear her unspoken gibes -- as she navigates her father's emotional distance, her godmother-turned-stepmother, her perfect sister and horrible brother-in-law as well as her seemingly-doomed love life.

Nina is a ballerina in a New York City ballet company. Her life, like most in her profession, is completely consumed with dance. She lives with her mother Erica, a former ballerina who exerts a suffocating control over her. When artistic director Thomas Leroy decides to replace prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre for the opening production of their new season, Swan Lake, Nina is his first choice. But Nina has competition: new dancer Lily, who impresses...

Four mothers. Four daughters. Eight stories. The Joy Luck Club is four women in San Francisco who have played mah jong together on a weekly basis to for forty some years. One of them, Suyuan, has died, and her daughter June is preparing to go to China. Auntie Lindo with daughter Waverly, Auntie Ying Ying with daughter Lena, and Auntie An Mei with daughter Rose are at the going away party. Born in China, the Joy Luck Club members came to America as...

When her best friend and roommate abruptly moves out to get married, Susan, trying to become a gallery artist while making ends meet as a bar mitzvah photographer on Manhattan's Upper West Side, finds herself adrift in both life and love. Could a new job be the answer? What about a fling with a married, older rabbi? This 1970s New York time capsule from Claudia Weill captures the complexities and contradictions of women's lives and relationships with...

A wealthy industrialist is found murdered in his home while his family gathers for the holiday season. The house is isolated and the phone lines have been found to be cut. Eight women are his potential murderers. Each is a suspect and each has a motive. Only one is guilty.