It's 1998 n LA. Successful Hollywood film Director Eddie Danforth shoots a scene from his own life story. t's his latest movie following an illustrious Award winning career - and a life that hides more secrets than he could ever care to reveal - or ever will. As he surveys the tableau and calls cut, he reaches the realisation that what his filming s just a veneer - as plastic as the lawn that sweeps before his mansions, so far from the reality of his life, that he barely recognises himself in it. To the dismay of his cast and crew, he cancels the project and decides to take stock - to look back at the good, the bad and the ugly - and unravel it all so that he can come to terms with his past. He starts by going back to his childhood in Collumpton UK in the family Manor House, 1953

11 year old Eddie watches his brutish father Lord Danforth as he humiliates a maid for bringing him the wrong type of marmalade. It's not English. Not that she had any control over the supplies in the kitchen. But that's not the point. Lord Danforth is a specialist in cruelty - and no-one escapes his wrath, especially not his son. As Eddie attracts his ire for not being strong enough. Lord Danforth decides to punish them both with a test - one they cannot possibly complete - and he ties them too each other by making them responsible for each others fate. Despite the pain and humiliation, the two create a bond - this is Eddies' introduction to a woman who will have a lifelong impact on him - Jennifer. She treats him with kindness and respect - and though he ultimately fails the test his father sets, her encouragement and support have a huge impact.

Eddie wakes after fainting during the cruel test his father set. He is desperate to find out what happened to Jennifer - and although the explanation is not explicit, he knows that she suffered at the hands of his father. Jennifer is maid to Eddie's beloved mother, from whom he is isolated at the instructions off her father. But Jennifer takes him to her - an act of kindness her will remember for the rest of his life. As he visits her where she is confined to her sick bed, Eddie reconnects with her and shares treasured memories.