In rural Victorian England, circa 1865, a headstrong young woman inherits her dead uncle’s farm in Wessex. Soon after her arrival, three very different men begin to pursue her: a failed sheep farmer; a wealthy landowner; and the one she falls in love with, a reckless military sergeant whose reputation precedes him. With stunning cinematography from Nicholas Roeg, John Schlesinger's adaptation of Thomas Hardy's downbeat classic novel stars Julie Christie as the unsatisfied country girl Bathsheba, her three handsome suitors are played by Terence Stamp, Alan Bates and Peter Finch.