Gerald returns from the trenches to run his ailing father's business. The Brangwen sisters are invited to a Crich family wedding where their father is the organist,Gudrun finding Gerald over-bearing. He is nonetheless attracted to her and hires her to teach his younger sister art. Hermione is impressed by Gudrun's work but,obsessed with Birkin,sees Ursula as a rival and attacks him for spurning her. Gudrun succumbs to Gerald as he brings out her wild side and he confides in her that he accidentally killed his brother when they were boys. Birkin packs in his job to write and actually gets it together with Ursula. The sisters and their beaux holiday in South Africa where the two men wrestle nude on a beach between spouting homilies about love.At a dance Gudrun is annoyed to see Gerald flirt with another girl and makes him jealous by allowing a German artist,Loeke, to flatter her. She tells Gerald she slept with him out of pity and regards him as incapable of love,after which he wanders off into the desert and dies to the strains of Bach. Somewhat hypocritically Gudrun tells Ursula that she "loved him so much". Far more genuine are the tears of the person who,despite pairing off with Ursula,truly and passionately loved him - Birkin.
—don @ minifie-1