Jude Fawley (Christopher Eccleston) is a stonemason who loves learning. Inspired by his teacher, he longs to go to University. After a brief but unhappy marriage to the daughter of a local pig farmer, he moves to Christminster to be closer to his beloved scholars. There, he meets and falls totally in love with his cousin Sue Bridehead (Kate Winslet), a thoroughly modem young woman, whose wit and beauty captivate him. The ill-fated lovers join in an illicit union that flaunts society's conventions - and tragedy ensues.