A Summer Story 1988

In the summer of 1902, Frank Ashton, a cultured London barrister, sets out on a walking holiday through the windswept lanes of Dartmoor. After a fall leaves him with a twisted ankle, he is cared for by a kind and capable village girl, Megan David, who tends his wound at a nearby farmhouse. Her gentleness stands in stark contrast to his city polish, and a quiet warmth begins to bloom between them. Megan’s cousin, Joe Narracombe, is wary of refined men and has his own claim on her heart, adding a subtle edge to the budding romance. The moor’s rugged beauty becomes the backdrop for a romance that feels both urgent and fragile, a test of whether two people from such different worlds can meet halfway.

To bridge their worlds, [Frank Ashton] learns the rhythms of village life, taking part in a local sheep-shearing festival and even learning to shear his first sheep. That night, Megan confesses that she returns his feelings, and their relationship deepens into something intimate and precarious, a secret bond that could endure or crumble under social weight. A quarrel with [Jim] erupts over Megan, and Ashton decides to leave the farm, planning to meet her again and marry her away from prying eyes. He travels to the seaside town of Torquay to cash a cheque at a bank, hoping to return the following morning with Megan by his side. But the bank’s caution and delays force him to linger, testing the limits of his resolve while fanning a growing sense of doubt about the audacious plan he has set in motion.

While he waits, Ashton runs into Phil Halliday, an old school friend staying at a local hotel with his three sisters: Stella Halliday, Sabina Halliday, and Freda Halliday. Stella’s bright, teasing presence stirs something in him, and her flirtatious warmth makes him question whether his affection for Megan is grounded in truth or just a thrilling fantasy. Halliday offers practical warnings about love’s risks—urging him not to uproot Megan from the only world she has ever known—and his insistence that romance must contend with real life’s responsibilities. The more Ashton spends time with the Halliday circle, the more he wonders if his romance with Megan is worth sacrificing the stability Stella and her family represent. Megan, back on the moor, clings to the belief that he will return, a belief that keeps her hopeful even as the days stretch into waiting.

The next day, as the sea air shifts with the sun, Ashton’s inner conflict deepens. He remains drawn to Stella’s warmth, yet the memory of Megan haunts every thought, and he begins to fear that a life lived by fantasy may overshadow the real future he could have—one that would join Megan to a different life than the one he’s plotting with Stella. Back in Dartmoor, Megan, ever hopeful, continues to wait at their agreed rendezvous spot, then resolves to seek him out in Torquay. She travels toward the town with a stubborn faith in a shared future, while Ashton, torn between two possibilities, battles with the fear that he might be chasing a dream instead of a future that could truly exist.

Eighteen years pass and Ashton is now married to Stella, their life moving along Devon’s quiet roads with no children to mark their era. He returns to the old farmhouse and is greeted by the farm hand Jim, who has kept faith in the possibility of their youthful pledge. The truth about Megan—the girl he once loved—unfolds slowly: she returned to Dartmoor heartbroken after he failed to arrive, and she died not long after giving birth to a son who bears her name in a quiet, living echo of the past. The grave Megan chose sits at the very spot where they first met, a place she longed to wait for his return. As Ashton and Stella drive away, they pass a young shepherd who offers a friendly smile—the same warmth that Megan showed him in happier days. In that small moment, the film hints at memory and life intersecting across time, with a boy named Francis (often called Frank) standing as a living link to a love that once burned bright on the moor.