Workers employed at a French vineyard quietly follow old pagan rituals that call for the life of the marquis owner to save his crops during dry seasons.

Vineyard owner Marquis Philippe de Montfaucon (David Niven) is called back to his castle Bellenac because of another dry season. He asks his wife and children to remain in Paris, but they still come after him--and his wife Catherine de Montfaucon (Deborah Kerr) soon discovers that her husband is acting mysteriously and that his employees are following old pagan rituals that call for the life of the Marquis to save the crops.—Mattias Thuresson

The family of Marquis Philippe de Montfaucon (David Niven) has long been the major landowner in Bellenac, a wine-growing region in France. Philippe heads back to the family vineyard from his home in Paris when he learns that problems in the fields are threatening the crops. Against Philippe's wishes, his wife, Marquise Catherine de Montfaucon (Deborah Kerr), decides to follow Philippe back to Bellenac, bringing their two adolescent children, Jacques (Robert Duncan) and Antoinette (Suky Appleby). Once they arrive, Catherine sees what she believes is disturbing behavior. Young-adult siblings Christian (David Hemmings) and Odile de Caray (Sharon Tate), whose family has also lived in the region for generations, have been hanging around the estate. Catherine witnesses Christian killing a dove with the bow and arrow he seems to be brandishing at all times, and Odile seems to have a hypnotic power over anyone in her sights. Worse, Philippe seems to be in a transfixed state while in Bellenac. Although the lives of Catherine and the children are threatened by Christian and Odile's actions, Catherine decides to stay just to figure out what is happening and to save Philippe, who also seems to be under some threat. By the time she eventually learns what is going on and why Philippe didn't want the family to come to Bellenac, it might be too late to save Philippe--and perhaps Jacques--from their evil destiny, as was the fate of many men of the de Montfaucon family in Bellenac over the generations.—Huggo