A milkmaid, Margery, encounters a mysterious foreigner and perhaps prevents him from committing suicide. In gratitude, the man offers her any reward she can name. She tells him she wants to go to a ball. He takes her, admittedly a bit reluctantly, to a yeoman's ball in a neighboring county. From there the story continues because of course, a lot happens after the ball. She happens to already have an engagement to a local lad but his hold over her seems to grow of its own accord. This Hardy story may not end the way you wish, but that is often true of stories by this master writer.

The young and beautiful Eustacia Vye (Catherine Zeta-Jones) visits her grandfather in Egdon Heath, a country area in northern England, but quickly becomes bored and dreams of city life in Paris. When Egdon Heath native Clym Yeobright (Ray Stevenson) returns from Paris and falls in love with Eustacia, she agrees to the courtship in hopes of moving to the city with Clym. But Eustacia's attraction to the handsome Damon Wildeve (Clive Owen) forces her to choose between the two men.

Our heroine, Anne Garland, lives quietly in a rural community deep in the English countryside. However, the arrival of several regiments preparing for an expected invasion brings colour and chaos to the county. A graceful and charming young woman, Anne is pursued by three suitors: John Loveday, the trumpet-major in a British regiment, honest and loyal; his brother Robert, a merchant seaman and womaniser, and Festus Derriman, the cowardly son of the local squire.