Befriended by aristocrat Sebastian Flyte (Ben Whishaw), Oxford student Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode) finds that the power and privilege experienced by the family is seductive. On a visit to Brideshead, the ancestral home, he falls in love with his friend's sister, Julia (Hayley Atwell). However, as Charles' ties to Sebastian and family deepen, he finds himself at odds with their strong Roman Catholicism.