A country girl has a brief, life-shattering moment when she falls for a young lawyer. Adapted from John Galsworthy s The Apple Tree, the film tells of the relationship between a young London lawyer, Frank Ashton (James Wilby, Handful of Dust) and Megan David (Imogen Stubbs, True Colors), the innocent girl who helps him during his recovery from a twisted ankle at the farm where she lives. The attraction between the two is overpowering and vow never to be parted. But Frank goes to Torquay where he meets an old schoolfriend and his lovely sister Stella (Sophie Ward). Thus, Frank s plans become muddled and Megan comes looking for him.
Two young gentlemen from London are wandering through the Devon countryside in their walking tweeds on a summer day in 1902 when one of them twists his ankle. In search of help, he looks up to find a beautiful country lass in a simple frock, homespun apron and straw hat. She is carrying a sheaf of wheat. The girl, named Megan (Imogen Stubbs), takes the apple-cheeked Frank Ashton (James Wilby) home to a stone-walled, thatch-roofed farmhouse nestled in a breathtakingly scenic valley. He rents a room from Megan’s Auntie (Susannah York) and settles in to recuperate. Frank so throws himself into the spirit of things that he attends the local sheep-shearing festivities. That same evening, on a bed of sheep cuttings, that Megan and Frank realize they have fallen in love. What happens next in ”A Summer Story” should be left undisclosed, but the film aspires to a four-hankie ending. Those hankies had better be pure linen. – NYT
Starring James Wilby, Imogen Stubbs, Susannah York, Jerome Flynn, Sophie Ward.