A young woman in her late teens, a reader of novels and with high hopes of romance and passion, marries a widowed country doctor. Although he dotes on her, she is soon bored and discontent. First, she gives her imagination to a law student in town, and next she takes a lover. When he refuses to run away with her, she takes up again with the law clerk. Her spending on dresses and furnishings mounts; these debts and her ill-advised professional counsel to her husband bring his ruin.
Frances O'Connor
as Emma Bovary
Greg Wise
as Rodolphe
Eileen Atkins
as Marie Louise
Hugh Bonneville
as Charles Bovary
Keith Barron
as L'heureux
Jessica Oyelowo
as Felicite
Trevor Peacock
as Rouault
David Troughton
as Homais
Stanley Lebor
as Binet
Hugh Dancy
as Leon
Joe Roberts
as Justin
Joe McGann
as Paul
