n a town called Hope on the edge of Britain’s empire, desperations clash: the beautiful Dorothea Brook is desperate to free her pregnant sister Rose from the clutches of Fraser, a fortune hunter. A local politician, William Poyner, is desperate for cash and thinks marriage to Dorothea will save him. Dorothea hires Lawrence Hayes, a rough but handsome Argonaut, to bribe Fraser with jewels and to marry Rose; Hayes desperately loves Dorothea and may marry Rose to stay close to her. But Dorothea has a lover, the ravishing Anne Cooper, who encourages the match with Poyser to give the lovers cover. Are these remedies, each desperate in its turn, going to make anyone happy?

This preposterously affected bodice-ripper is set in a raunchy harbor town teeming with sexually aroused and confused transportees. One such is brooding Lawrence Hayes (Kevin Smith), pouting sweatily like a refugee from a Levi’s ad. Opulent dressmaker Dorothea Brook (Jennifer Ward-Lealand) enlists his help to save her opium-addicted sister from the sensual, callous fop Fraser. Nostrils flare, lower lips quiver, impossible skirts trail over checkered floors, uncorseted bosoms bounce, sex of all preferences is simulated—climaxing with the lesbian lovers happily walking into the sunset. “Dares to be bad and succeeds quite splendidly.” - Time Out UK