电影讲述了20年代一对年轻的英国夫妇来到中国乡村生活的故事，在这美丽却凶险的环境中，他们经历了在其英国家乡舒适生活中绝对无法想象和体验的情感波澜，并领悟到了爱与奉献的真谛。 
　　故事以女主角吉蒂开篇，为了逃离20年代伦敦浮华却又空虚的社交圈，也为了防止自己变成一位老姑娘，吉蒂接受了沉默寡言的医生沃特·费恩的求婚。费恩在把吉蒂带到上海后，便迅速地投入到了他的细菌学研究中去。孤独的吉蒂和迷人的已婚男子查理·唐森发生了婚外情，当费恩发现时，他羞恨交加。为了报复，也为了重整自己的生活，费恩决定孤注一掷，带着吉蒂远走霍乱肆虐的偏远城镇。沃特从一尘不染的研究室走向了瘟疫流行的最前线，他慢慢地协助控制了当地的疫情。吉蒂则开始在一家由法国修女住持的修道院兼医院中做义工，并逐渐找回了生活的勇气和意义。沃特和吉蒂终于可以互相敞开心扉，但就在他们日渐亲密的同时，沃特染上了霍乱。沃特的生死决定了他们新近迸发出来的激情能否转化为永恒的爱情……

沃特和吉蒂在一个舞会上认识，沃特一见钟情地爱上了吉蒂： 
Walter: Hello. 
Kitty: Hello. 
Walter: Say, I was wondering… 
Kitty: What？ 
Walter: Sorry, I was wondering if you'd like to dance? 
Kitty: Why not? 

但是，吉蒂并没有看上沃特：沃特显然不是她喜欢的类型。但是，沃特紧追不舍，在花店里，他们第二次见面、第一次单独出行，沃特便向吉蒂求婚了，尽管沃特是如此的沉默寡言和不善言辞： 
Walter: Do you like flowers? 
Kitty: Not particularly, no. Well, I mean, yes. But we don't really have them around house. Mother says, why purchase something you can grow for free. But then we don't really grow them either. It dose seem silly, really, to put all that effort into something that's just going to die. 
Walter: I'd like to say something to you. I came to see you to ask you if you'll marry me. 
Kitty: You could knock me down with a feather. 
Walter: Could you not tell that I am in love with you? 
Kitty: You never showed it. 
Walter: Oh, I'd… Well, I wanted to. It's difficult. I… But there it is. 
Kitty: Right. I am not sure that's very well put. 
Walter: No, it's not. Do you see how clumsy I am? I… I'm terrible at these sorts of things. But the thing is I've got to get back to China very soon. I don't have time to be cautious. 
Kitty: I've never thought of you in that way. 
Walter: I think I improve greatly upon acquaintance. 
Kitty: Oh, I'm sure you do. 
Walter: I'd do anything in my power to make you happy, anything at all. I think you'd like Shanghai. It's quite exciting, it is lots of dancing. 
Kitty: Surely you're not expecting me to answer this second? I don't know you at all. 

吉蒂没有马上答应沃特。但是，当她回到家里，发现她母亲居然对她能否顺利出嫁失去了信心…… 
于是，她其实只是为了逃离刻薄的母亲，也被神秘的东方城市生活所吸引，才草草决定嫁给沃特。 
到了上海——他丈夫沃特工作的地方，他发现与沃特的生活是如此地无趣：这个男人沉默寡言、不解风情。 
有一次，沃特带她一起看京剧《玉堂春》。她和一个已婚男子查理坐在一起，查理向她讲述了京剧里女主角哭泣的原因： 
Charlie: So she weeps. She weeps for the lively, vivacious girl she once was, 
for the lonely woman she has became. 
and most of all, she weeps for the love she'll never feel, 
for the love she'll never give. 

——查理的讲述仿佛是在说她。或许在上海的生活太孤寂，沃特太没情趣，或许只是被查理的讲述“震撼”，吉蒂“出轨”了，和查理发生了性关系。沃特发现了他们的“奸情”，但是他并没有破门而入、捉奸在床。他选择带吉蒂远离上海，到中国内地一个偏远的乡村（梅潭府。电影在桂林拍摄）从事志愿工作：那里在发生霍乱疫情，缺乏医疗人员，而沃特是个细菌学家。生性娇惯的吉蒂当然不愿随丈夫前去。但是，沃特以控告她和查理私通、提出离婚要挟，双方因此发生了剧烈争吵： 
Walter: It's comic, when I think about how hard I've tried to make you happy: debasing myself! Acting as though I was as thrilled as you by the latest gossip and as vulgar and as ignorant of the word as you are! 
Kitty: Shut up ! 
Walter: If you interrupt me again, I'll strangle you. Sit down! I knew when I married you that you were selfish and spoiled. But I loved you. I knew that you married me only to get as far away from your mother as possible, and I hoped that one day there'd be something more… I was wrong！ You don't have it in you. 
Kitty: If a man hasn't what's necessary to make a woman love him, then it's his fault, not hers! Everything you said is true, everything. I married you even though I didn't love you. But you knew that. Aren't you as much to blame for what's happened as I? 
——吉蒂的最后几句话颇为经典。她说：“如果一个男人不能让一个女人爱上他，那是他的错！”“我不爱你，但嫁给了你：我是有错！但是你明知我不爱你，还娶我：你难道就没有责任吗？！” 
吉蒂这么说，沃特大概觉得有点“理屈”，决定让吉蒂屈去找查理，但要查理和现在的妻子离婚而后娶吉蒂——他也知道查理和吉蒂之间，并不像吉蒂想象的那样有真爱。于是，吉蒂去找查理。事实是，查理果然只是在玩弄吉蒂。 

吉蒂只好和丈夫去梅潭府。在路上，吉蒂和沃特之间仅有一段对话，可以说明他们的关系已经到了“冰点”： 
Walter: It's nearly midday. We could stop up under the trees. But I'd like to press on if it's all right with you. 
Kitty: Certainly, my comfort's of no concern to you. 
Walter: Right. Then we'll continue. 

到了梅潭府，夫妻间的隔阂、冷漠乃至仇恨、物资的贫困、霍乱致死的威胁、仇视外国人的暴民，一直在折磨着吉蒂。 
在梅潭府，他们只有一个外国朋友：维廷顿。维廷顿看出了吉蒂和沃特之间存在问题： 
Waddington: You kown, this is no place for a woman. When they telegraphed me that you were coming out, I was astonished. I imagined you might be a grim-visaged old nurse with thick legs and a moustache. I came into the bungalow and there you were frail and tired, and very unhappy. 
Kitty: It was a long journey. 
Waddington: But you are unhappy now. And it occurred to me that you and your husband might be madly in love and that you'd simply refused to stay behind. 
Kitty: That's a reasonable explanation. 
Waddington: Yes. But it's not the right one. Do you know what I find strange? 
That your husband should never look at you. He looks at the walls, the floor, his shoes. 
Kitty: He has a great deal on his mind. 
Waddington: Yes, I'm sure of it. 
吉蒂其实还是在别人面前维护了她和沃特的关系——其实也是在维护沃特。当维廷顿说，他之所以觉得她和沃特之间“有不对劲”，是因为发现沃特从不看她，而只是看墙、地板或者自己的鞋。吉蒂心里或许很不舒服。 

然而，吉蒂和沃特之间的关系开始出现转机…… 
维廷顿带吉蒂去镇上的法国天主教会参观，天主教会开设了孤儿院和医院（沃特就在那医院里从事志愿工作），从天主教女长老（Mother）的口中，她听到了对她丈夫的赞赏与尊敬，知道了她丈夫深沉的爱心： 
Mother: Dr.Fane loves babies. He spends as much time as he can helping us in the nursery. 
——吉蒂开始觉得自己是那么的傻：竟没有认真地了解过一个一直在他身边、曾经深爱她、并且或许依然还爱着她的“好男人”。 
于是当她步出教会的时候，和维廷顿有对话： 
Waddington: Mrs.Fane, you all right? 
Kitty: Yes, it's nothing, only foolishness. 

于是，回到家，吉蒂想寻求与丈夫“和解”，她主动将晚饭端到还在工作的丈夫的桌上： 
Walter: What do you want? 
Kitty: Oh, sorry. I brought you your supper. 
Walter: All right. Just leave it there. 
——沃特依然是那么冷淡。但是，吉蒂试图改变，他第一次过问丈夫的工作： 
Walter: Something elses? 
Kitty: What's that you're doing? 
Walter: I am testing the nitrate levels of a local tomato. 
Kitty: Why? 
Walter: Can't possibly intrest you. 
Kitty: Well, enjoy your supper. 
——沃特依然冷淡，他没有发现妻子的变化。但是，吉蒂仍不放弃，却受到了伤害： 
Kitty: Walter, what do you propose we should do if we get through the epidemic? 
Walter: I have no ideas. 
But I don't think any good will come of always talking about a situation that we should do much better to forget. 
Kitty: But you don't forget. 
Walter: Please, I really must work. 
Kitty: Won't you listen to what I have to say? 
Walter: All right, if you insist. 
Kitty: It's, it's just today, having been at the convent with those nuns… 
Walter: What have they done, converted you? 
Kitty: No. They spoke of you and it made me feel… 
Walter: What? It made you feel what? 
Kitty: I think I 've been afraid of you. 
Walter: Well, you should have been. 
Excuse me, if, if I can't work, I'm going to bed. 
——沃特十分不耐烦，离开了工作室，进了洗手间。吉蒂还是不放弃，跟进了洗手间： 
Kitty: I know you're angry at me. But if we could just try and talk about… 
Walter: Honestly, I don't understand you. What is it that you want from me? 
Kitty: Perhaps I just want us to be a little less unhappy. 
Walter: You are mistaken in thingking that I'm unhappy. 
I have far too much to do here to think of you very much at all. 
Kitty: That's exactly what I'm trying to say. I feel useless. 
Walter: What do you propose that I do about that? 
Kitty: For god's sakes, Walter! Will you stop punishing me? Do you absolutely despise me? 
Walter: No, I despise myself. 
Kitty: Why? 
Walter: For allowing myself to love you once. 
——吉蒂试图和解，却受到深深的伤害：沃特说“我只恨自己，当初竟然如此放任自己爱上你！” 
当吉蒂摔门而去，继而在外边呜呜啜泣的时候，沃特才知道自己深深伤害了吉蒂——一个自己曾经深爱的人。他其实也伤害了自己：他们其实都在折磨对方。 

此后，吉蒂进入孤儿院帮忙。她在孤儿院与医院的交界处，遇见了沃特，她轻声说了Hello，之后就转身离去，不等沃特开口。 
晚上，吉蒂和沃特有了一次气氛稍微好转的对话： 
Walter: These really aren't the best times for a western woman to go exploring a Chinese town by herself. 
Kitty: Oh, do be quiet. 
As if you care whether I'm killed by Nationalists or boredom. 
Besides, I wasn't alone. I was with my gallant protector Sung Ching. 
By the way, you might be happy to know that I am just as useless to the nuns as I am to you. 
Walter: I shut off the town's only water supply today. 
Kitty: What will you do? 
Walter: I have no idea. 
Kitty: Then I suppose we're both useless. At last, sometihing in common. 
——他们终于有了共通之处：在工作上，都是“一无是处”的人。 

吉蒂在孤儿院给婴儿换尿布，的确是“一无是处”：这活儿她明显做不来。 
但是，在音乐教室里弹钢琴、教孩子们唱歌，显然是她的长项。 
有一次，吉蒂在弹奏钢琴：欢快而热烈，孩子们在她周围闹成一团。这时候，教会的女长老（mother）突然进了音乐教室，孩子们立刻停止了喧闹；吉蒂也马上停止了弹奏。然而，长老其实是看到了沃特在门外驻足欣赏吉蒂的弹奏，才进来提醒吉蒂的： 
Kitty: I'm sorry. 
Mother: Do not stop on my account, if Dr. Fane is enjoying himself. 
Walter: No, no, not at all. It's very nice. I was passing. 
Mother: No, stay. 
Walter: I should go. 
Mother: I insist. 
Walter: All right, if you like. 
Mother: Continue, Mrs.Fane. But perhaps something a little more soothing. 
Kitty: Yes, of course. 
沃特在门外听着吉蒂弹奏柔和的乐曲，他想起了舞会上初遇吉蒂的情形：或许是，吉蒂故意挑选了舞会上她俩共舞的舞曲来弹奏。 

沃特与吉蒂从此重归于好。这是全剧最长也是最温馨的一段对白： 
Kitty: They brought a new baby today. The girls named her Zan Xin. It means brand new. 
The nuns are going to call it Katherine, which, of course, none of the girls will be able to say. 
Thank goodness for those nuns. They do so much for so little in return. 
Walter: I suppose you can look at it that way. 
Kitty: You suppose? 
Walter: I think it might be a bit more complicated than that. 
Kitty: They take in desperate children and give them a chance at life. What could be so complicated about that? 
Walter: They also go to young mothers in their homes. They ask them to give their babies to the convent. They offer them money to support their families to persuade them to do it. 
They're not just here to run an orphanage, your nuns. They're turning those children into little catholics. 
None of us are in China without a reason. 
Kitty: Still, on the whole, I think that what they're doing is a pretty good deed, don't you? 
Walter: I'm here to study bacteria. I don't feel the need to have an opinion about the rest of it . 
Kitty: Well, I do, and I admire them. I don't think it has to be so complicated and gloomy. 
And I think what you're doing, for instance, is incredibly noble. 
Walter: You used to feel contempt for me, dont't you still? 
Kitty: Walter. I can't believe that you with all your cleverness should have such little sense of proportion. 
We humans are more cmplex than your silly little microbes. 
We're unpredictable. We make mistakes and we disappoint. 
Walter: Yes, we certainly do. 
Kitty: I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm not the perfect young woman that you want me to be. 
I'm just ordinary, I never tried to pretend that I was anything Else. 
Walter: No, you certainly didn't. 
Kitty: I like the theater and dancing and playing tennis. I like games. I like men who play games. 
God forgive me, that's the way I was brought up. 
Walter: Well, I play a pretty fierce hand of bridge. 
Kitty: Oh, well. that's bloody exciting. 
And you , you dragged me around all those interminable galleries in Venice blathering on about the miracle of the canals and the flashing of the lagoon system or some such nonsense. 
Honestly, I'd have been much happier playing golf at Sandwich. 
Walter: I suppose you're right. It was silly of us to look for qualities in each other that we never had. 
Kitty: Yes, yes, it was. 
吉蒂说：“我喜欢戏剧、跳舞，喜欢打网球、玩游戏，喜欢爱玩的男人，这不怪我：我的家教就是如此！” 
而沃特却要带她逛威尼斯的画廊，还唠叨什么运河的奇迹、什么排水系统，一类无聊的东西……这还不如带她去桑威治打高尔夫。 
——沃特说的话很经典：我们都太傻了，非要在对方身上找我们所没有的东西！ 
吉蒂又问起沃特当初为何不破门而入、痛打查理一顿。 
沃特说查理不值得他打，他也不屑于和查理打架。 
吉蒂语带温柔地“怀疑”沃特其实是怕打不过查理： 
Kitty: Walter, why didn't you break down that door when you knew I was in there with Charlie? You might have at least tried to thrash him. 
Walter: He wasn't worth it. Or maybe I'm just too proud to fight. 
Kitty: I don't know about that. （我看不是吧！） 

吉蒂与沃特重归于好后，一起去找维廷顿聊天，吉蒂对维廷顿说了一句十分经典的话： 
Kitty: As if a woman ever loved a man for his virtue. 
（女人往往不会因为一个男人是好人，而爱上这个男人） 

吉蒂突然发现自己怀孕了，孩子的父亲很可能是查理，而不是沃特… 
此时的吉蒂无疑是十分的痛苦和自责，但是沃特说：“这已经不重要了！”—— 
Walter: And what't happened here? 
Kitty: I'm all right. 
Walter: They said you fainted. 
Kitty: I'm fine. 
Walter: Let me look at you. 
Kitty: It's not cholera. 
Walter: No. I don't think so. 
Did you feel nauseous? Or just faint? 
Kitty: Walter, stop. I'm pregnant. 
Walter: A baby? You're quite certain? 
Kitty: Yes. 
Walter: Well, that's wonderful. 
…… 
How long do you think you've been like this? 
Kitty: Two months. Maybe longer. 
Walter: Kitty. Am I the father? 
Kitty: I honestly don't know. I'm sorry. 
Walter: Well. It doesn't matter now. Does it? 
Kitty: No. No, it doesn't. 

Mother: I think you did not want to leave him either. 
Kitty: Well, it's my duty. 
Mother: Duty is only washing your hands when they are dirty. 
I fell in love when I was 17, with God. A foolish girl with romantic notions about the life of a religious. 
But my love was passionate. Over the years, my feelings have changed. 
He's disappointed me, ignored me. We've settled into a relationship of peaceful indifference. 
The old husband and wife who sit side by side on the sofa, but rarely speak. 
He knows I will never leave him, this is my duty. 
But when love and duty are one, then the grace is within you. 
——此后长老与吉蒂的这一次对话，我一直不能理解其深意。不过长老的一句话，听起来似乎很有哲理： 
“所谓责任，其实就只像手脏就去洗手。但是，当责任与爱合一，那恩典就将与你同在。” 

最后，沃特染上了霍乱。在弥留之际，他寻求吉蒂的原谅——为什么要寻求原谅呢？他们或许曾经彼此憎恨，但是他们早已冰释前嫌——就算曾经有过的恨，又能说清是谁对、是谁错呢？ 
更重要的是，他们已经由恨而爱，而且爱得炽烈——然而，上帝给予时间是如此的吝啬。 
这是两人生离死别前的对话： 
Walter: Kitty… 
Kitty: Are you awake? Are you feeling better? 
Walter: Forgive me… 
Kitty: Forgive you? There's nothing to forgive. 
Walter, I'm sorry. 
——此时，沃特已经逝去，吉蒂只有呼唤。