Kathleen Barclay [Jane Fonda] is a young widow living with the shadow of her late husband’s words, which have left her convinced she is frigid. In the Briarwood interview room, her tremor and tears reveal a depth of longing she has kept hidden, and when Radford [Efrem Zimbalist Jr.] quietly retrieves her wallet after a panic, she recognizes his voice and suddenly feels exposed in a way she hasn’t permitted herself to be before. What begins as a clinical conversation evolves into something intimate, and the more Radford attends to Kathleen’s vulnerability, the more a cautious trust grows between them. She confronts the fear that has wrapped itself around her understanding of love and sex, and in time she lets herself hope that she is not beyond healing. The arc outlines a tender, transformative relationship that challenges her to redefine intimacy on her own terms, beyond the harsh verdicts she once believed about herself.
Teresa Harnish [Glynis Johns] is a vivacious, married woman who greets the Briarwood session with a bright, almost reckless curiosity. She recognizes her interviewer as Dr. Chapman [Andrew Duggan], and she begins to record everything with a mind to replay it for her husband. The exercise destabilizes the easy certainty she had about her own desires, nudging her toward an adventure she imagines might be “abnormal” yet thrilling. In her pursuit of Ed Kraski [Ty Hardin], a strong young football player, the pursuit quickly pivots toward physical play, but the comedy of their attempt to connect clashes with real emotion. When Ed finally acknowledges her fantasies, his eager, if imperfect, response becomes a moment of comic relief that also underscored the fragile line between fantasy and genuine affection. She bursts into laughter, then retreats, realizing that desire can be both liberating and ridiculous, and that romance must meet reality rather than simply satisfy a fantasy. Teresa’s segment highlights how a buoyant exterior can mask insecurities and how a flirtation can reveal more about a person’s longing than about the partner they imagine.
Sarah Garnell [Shelley Winters] is a middle-aged wife and mother whose affair with Fred Linden [Ray Danton], the young director of the local little theater, has its own tumult. Her interview delves into a relationship she regards as only “tolerable,” a quiet, recurring affair that occupies Saturdays more than Sundays. As she weeps describing their bond, the questions push her to examine what she and her husband Frank Garnell [Harold J. Stone] mean to one another and whether their marriage could survive honesty about their sexual life. The revelation of Sarah’s growing awareness leads her to a drastic step: she leaves a note and her wedding ring for Frank and goes to Fred’s boat, seeking a new possibility. But Fred’s wife is waiting, and when he refuses to engage with the sealed consequences of their liaison, Sarah is forced to confront the limits of desire and the stubborn, enduring pull of loyalty. She ultimately returns to Frank, realizing that commitment and pain can coexist, and that love may require more than a single, fiery act to sustain a marriage.
Naomi Shields [Claire Bloom] is a divorcée whose life is defined by a pattern of risk and self-destruction. A highly sexually active, alcoholic woman, she greets men with boldness, including Bob Jensen, a water-delivery man she seduces in a charged, dangerous moment. Her life spirals further when Wash Dillon, a seedy jazz musician, introduces her to a brutal turn of events: a gang-rape by Dillon and his friends, a cruel act that leaves Naomi adrift and betrayed. When it comes time for her Briarwood interview, she recounts a history of numerous partners and chaotic choices, oscillating between confession and self-justification. She admits a past of harming and being harmed, of seeking solace in sex as a defense against loneliness and shame. A failed suicide attempt follows the assault, and Naomi’s voice trembles with the ache of someone who has long believed she must navigate pain alone. The interview echoes after: Dillon is blamed indirectly, and Radford emphasizes that Naomi’s trajectory was broken long before Briarwood ever began. Her story is a stark reminder of how trauma and vulnerability can intertwine with desire, and how society’s quick judgments can overlook the deeper fractures beneath the surface.
Across these four narratives, Dr. Chapman [Andrew Duggan] and his associate Paul Radford [Efrem Zimbalist Jr.] sift through the data with care, trying to preserve dignity while uncovering patterns about love, fidelity, and what people truly want from intimacy. Their findings reveal that the vast majority of American marriages, in their survey, show happiness, even as individuals wrestle with fear, fantasy, and fault lines within their relationships. The film uses these four intimate windows—Kathleen’s healing, Teresa’s mixed optimism, Sarah’s awakening and return, Naomi’s devastation—to probe how people cope when confronted with honest, sometimes painful, conversations about sex and love. As the study unfolds, the pair pause to reflect on their own connection to the data and to one another.
In a quiet, hopeful moment toward the end, Radford shares news that feels earned and personal: he and Kathleen Barclay [Jane Fonda] are engaged. This personal milestone folds the professional into a single emotional arc, suggesting that the work of understanding desire can lead not only to clearer data but to the possibility of a shared future built on trust and mutual respect. The ending leaves viewers with a tempered sense of optimism—one that acknowledges the complexity of intimacy while affirming that connection and commitment can still emerge from honest examination and courageous vulnerability.
