With two young daughters (Bella Riza and Carrie Mullan) in tow, a soul-searching mother (Kate Winslet) on a quest for enlightenment leaves 1970s London for Morocco, where she takes up with a kindhearted street performer (Saïd Taghmaoui) who does his best to protect her family. But her thirst for adventure proves bad medicine for her children. The film is based on a novel by Esther Freud, a descendant of the famous founder of psychoanalysis.