Seventeen year-old Cassandra lives with her eccentric family in a crumbling castle in 1930s Suffolk. Dad (Nighy) is a novelist who hasn't written anything for years, stepmother Topaz (Fitzgerald) is an earthy gal with a habit of dancing naked in the moonlight, and sister Rose (Byrne) dreams that a rich young man will come along and take her away. In fact, two such men - brothers Simon (Thomas) and Neil (Mark Blucas) - do pop by, having inherited the nearby estate.
Luckily for the girls, they're not just wealthy, but handsome too. Not surprisingly, especially when you consider it's based on a novel by Dodie Smith (who wrote 101 Dalmatians), this is a tale of first love aimed squarely at pre-teen girls. Warmly performed against luscious English scenery, it's as sweet and innocent as an eight year-old's crush on Gareth Gates.