A timeless adaptation of Thomas Hardy's classic romance. Tess Darbeyville, a beautiful young peasant, seeks her fortune with the wealthy D'Urbervilles, whom her family believes to be distant relatives.

Julia is an art restorer who is restoring a fifteenth-century painting. Her work on a Flemish painting reveals a hitherto undiscovered Latin phrase which translates as "Who killed the knight?". She goes to the art authorities she knows to find out what it might mean. Oddly, at the same time, a series of murders, including art experts, patrons and restorers has Julia scrambling to find out what is happening. She finds that the mystery of the painting...