Wentworth seems only to be cold to Anne. When
they are out walking with the Musgroves, she falls off a log while crossing a stream. He
picks her up, a small gesture from which she gathers some hope, but then he walks away.
She miserably watches what seems to be a burgeoning friendship of sorts between Wentworth
and Louisa Musgrove.
Wentworth suggests that he and all the younger
Musgroves, and Anne, take a refreshing trip to Lyme Regis, where he has a couple of
friends, a Captain Harville (Joseph Mawle) and the morose, recently widowed, Captain
Benwick (Finlay Robertson). There is much ribaldry and naval talk at Lyme, but Anne feels
left out. She shares her misery to some extent with Benwick.
A handsome stranger is also staying in Lyme,
apparently on his way to Bath. The group learns, just as he is leaving, that this is
William Elliot, Anne's immensely rich cousin and the heir to Kellynch Hall (as Sir Walter
had no sons of his own). Relations between this gentleman and Sir Walter are reportedly
frosty
An over-excited Louisa, while out walking with
the party, jumps from the Cob at Lyme, calling out to Wentworth to catch her. He fails to,
and she is knocked unconscious. It has been a bad fall and Louisa cannot be moved from
Lyme. Wentworth, filled with guilt, decides to go to Uppercross at once to report on the
accident to Louisa's parents. He takes Henrietta with him, and Anne goes too, because it
is on the way to Bath, and that is where Anne has decided to head for, with no hope of
rekindling the love that Wentworth once had for her.
In Bath, Anne is coolly received by her father
and sister and Mrs Clay, but more amiably welcomed by Lady Russell, who is always at her
side in fashionable society. She also visits an old school friend, Mrs. Smith (Maise
Dimbleby), who is a widow and has fallen on hard times. To Anne's surprise, it seems that
William Elliot and Sir Walter have become reconciled, and Mr. Elliott is rarely out of the
company of Sir Walter and Elizabeth and Mrs Clay.
Elliot begins to take a sincere interest in
Anne, much to the fascination of Lady Russell, who thinks it would be a good match. Anne
is not wholly opposed to the idea either, as it would mean that she would be able, as his
wife, to return to her beloved Kellynch Hall. Then Anne learns that a wedding is imminent
at Upper Cross, and that Louisa is to be the bride. She presumes that the groom will be
Captain Wentworth.
Meanwhile, still in Lyme, Wentworth is
horrified to learn from his friend Harville that everyone assumes he is soon to become
engaged to Louisa, and that Louisa rather expects it too. Wentworth decides to put a
distance between himself and Louisa by leaving Lyme for a while. When he returns, he hears
from Harville that Louisa has become engaged to the sad Captain Benwick. Wentworth
realises, at last, that he is overwhelmingly in love with Anne, as he always has been.
Admiral and Mrs. Croft arrive in Bath and
relay the news to Anne, much to her amazement, that Louisa is marrying Captain Benwick and
not Wentworth. She also hears that Captain Wentworth has arrived in Bath.
Anne's first encounter with Wentworth is
interrupted by William Elliott, and her next encounter with him, at a concert, is made all
the more galling for him when he hears talk of an impending match between Elliott and her.
He leaves the concert before she has a chance to explain herself. And William Elliott
proposes to her, expecting her answer the next day.
Wentworth pays what he thinks will be a final
visit to Anne. He wants to know the truth. She tells him that the rumours of her being
about to marry Elliot are entirely unfounded. He is astonished, but still leaves when a
flurry of visitors, including Lady Russell, arrives.
Anne pursues him through the streets of Bath.
She runs into Mrs. Smith, who tells her what she has learnt about William Elliot and his
scheming ways. Despite the genuineness of his feelings for Anne, he has also been courting
Mrs. Clay, in an attempt to prise her away from Sir Walter, so that she won't marry him
and therefore possibly produce a new heir to Kellynch, thereby depriving Elliot of his
inheritance.
Anne runs on. Captain Wentworth has left her a
letter at his lodgings. It at last declares his constant and undying love for her. She
runs on, trying to find him. She bumps into the Crofts, who tell her that he is now trying
to find her. Finally, they meet in the street. Exhausted but elated, Anne becomes
reconciled to the only man she has ever truly loved, and he to her.
Captain Wentworth, an exceedingly wealthy man,
buys Kellynch Hall, thereby ensuring Anne's return to the home she always adored.
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