This romantic drama concerns two star-crossed lovers who are half-brother and sister to each other. Catherine (Anna Calder-Marshall) is the daughter of the lord of the manor who falls for the brooding stable boy Heathcliff (Timothy Dalton). When Heathcliff leaves to seek his fortune, he returns to find Catherine has married the local magistrate Edgar (Ian Ogilvy). The story is told by the beautiful blonde servant girl Nellie (Judy Cornwell), who narrates at the beginning to set the stage for the picture. Hindley (Julian Glover) is Catherine's older brother who tries to take over the house and land after the death of their father (Harry Andrews). When his own wife and child dies, a drunken Hindley gambles away the family holdings to the opportunistic Heathcliffe. Filmed in England, the scenery is spectacular but this version lacks the foreboding, shadowy drama of the 1939 original starring Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier.

The Earnshaws are Yorkshire farmers during the early 19th Century. One day, Mr. Earnshaw returns from a trip to the city, bringing with him a ragged little boy called Heathcliff. Earnshaw's son, Hindley, resents the child, but Heathcliff becomes companion and soulmate to Hindley's sister, Catherine. After her parents die, Cathy and Heathcliff grow up wild and free on the Moors and despite the continued enmity between Hindley and Heathcliff they're happy– until Cathy meets Edgar Linton, the son of a wealthy neighbor.