Trapped on a small provincial French farm with her widowed father, Emma (Francesca Amis) dreams of marrying her way up the social ladder and leading a glittering, fairytale life amid the bright lights of the big city.

To escape, she marries a young doctor, Charles Bovary (Tom Conti), but his dull, pedestrian ways and lack of ambition soon leave her disenchanted and dreaming of a grander life elsewhere. Enchanted by stories of the many affairs of Mary Antoinette and the great romances she finds in novels, Madame Bovary embarks on a path of betrayal and illicit affairs in her desperate search for fulfilment. It is a treacherous path that will ultimately lead not to her dreams but her utter ruin.

Trapped on a small provincial French farm with her widowed father, Emma dreams of marrying her way up the social ladder