The Proposition

Roger is approached by Barret's lawyer with a lucrative plan: sleep with Eleanor so Arthur Barret can father a child. The arrangement is framed as a business deal rather than romance, and Roger agrees to participate. The plan begins to unfold, pulling the Barret family into a dangerous triangle.

After several attempts, Eleanor becomes pregnant. Roger's obsession deepens, as he starts to believe he is in love with her. Eleanor makes it clear that this is a transactional arrangement and that she loves her husband.

Arthur forbids Roger from seeing Eleanor, attempting to sever the arrangement. Roger responds with threats to expose the scheme, which would bring disgrace to the Barret name. Arthur phones his lawyer to warn him about the problems Roger is causing.

Father Michael McKinnon arrives in the parish and is presented to the Barrets as the church's most cherished donor. He is asked to befriend the family, but initially declines their dinner invitations. Eventually he accepts but gets into an argument with Arthur over his brother's investments in Nazi Germany, and later reveals he is Arthur's nephew.

Eleanor grows drawn to Michael and assists him with a pauper's burial. Michael opens the coffin and the face he sees is Roger's, which Eleanor recognizes. Traumatized, she staggers backward and falls into the empty grave, losing the baby.

In the days that follow, Eleanor shuns her husband, believing Roger was killed. She eventually relents and reconciles with Arthur.

Eleanor begins seeing Michael and they develop a romantic relationship. Syril, the house manager, informs Arthur of the affair and urges him to permit it, hoping it will help Eleanor conceive again. The family dynamic grows increasingly tangled.

One night Michael comes to the Barret mansion and breaks in to find Eleanor. Syril witnesses this but does not intervene. Eleanor becomes pregnant again with Michael's child, and she ends the affair, refusing to see him again.

During the birth, Eleanor endures great agony and the doctor completes the delivery with Michael assisting. Twins are born, and Michael tells Arthur that they are his children and that he will take them to England.

As Eleanor lies in her coffin in the church, Michael goes to her side and overhears Arthur and Syril arguing. Syril confesses that she poisoned Roger as a favor to Arthur, and Arthur refuses to accept her. Michael begins to negotiate a way forward.

A deal is struck in which Arthur keeps the children, naming one Michael, while Michael remains at the Boston church.

Arthur stages a large funeral for Eleanor, but the coffin is empty. Michael quietly buries her in a pauper's coffin and grave, and Arthur later places flowers on her grave, noting that she would have preferred that burial.