Set against the background of a grimy village near Nottingham, this story of a coal miner's son with promising artistic talents unfolds slowly in Jack Cardiff's adaptation of D. H. Lawrence's semi-autobiographical novel. Caught up in the constant bickering of his possessive mother and his tough but sensitive father, Paul Morel (Dean Stockwell) sacrifices his chance to study art in London, gives up the local girl he loves, and eventually becomes involved with a woman separated from her husband. A sensitive and intelligent interpretation of a difficult novel, the film boasts strong performances by Stockwell and Trevor Howard, who as the drunken miner father delivers possibly the best performance of his career.