The Earnshaws are Yorkshire farmers during the early nineteenth century. One day, Mr. Earnshaw (Cecil Kellaway) returns from a trip to the city, bringing with him a ragged little boy called Heathcliff. Earnshaw's son, Hindley (Hugh Williams), resents the child, but Heathcliff becomes companion and soulmate to Hindley's sister, Cathy (Merle Oberon). After her parents die, Cathy and Heathcliff grow up wild and free on the Moors, and despite the continued enmity between Hindley and Heathcliff (Sir Laurence Olivier), they're happy, until Cathy meets Edgar Linton (David Niven), the son of a wealthy neighbor.—Marg Baskin