This fictionalized story, based on the family life of writer James Jones, is an emotional slice-of-life story. Jones is portrayed here as Bill Willis, a former war hero turned author who combats alcoholism and is starting to experience health problems. Living in France with his wife, daughter, and an adopted son, the family travels an unconventional road which casts them as outsiders to others. Preaching a sexual freedom, his daughter's sexual discovery begins at an early age and betrays her when the family moves to Hanover in America. Her overt sexuality clashes with the values of her teenage American peers and gives her a problematic reputation. Meanwhile, her brooding brother copes with his own interior pain regarding his past, only comfortable communicating within the domestic space.

"The city of lights. A famous American author and the decade that changed a generation...forever."

Credits

James IvoryDirector

Kris KristoffersonBill Willis

Leelee SobieskiCharlotte Anne 'Channe' Willis, Age 14

Jane BirkinMrs. Fortescue

Barbara HersheyMarcella Willis