64岁的佩内洛普有三个性格迥异的孩子：热情善良的小女儿奥莉维亚，自私无情的儿子诺埃尔，贪婪善妒的大女儿南希。一次轻微的心脏病发作使老人在闲暇时回忆起过往的生活——自由的伦敦童年生活，狂野的康沃尔少女时代，一段不幸的战时婚姻，一个挚爱的男人。佩内洛普的父亲是一位著名画家，其作品《拾贝壳的人》价值不菲，也是佩内洛普最珍爱的宝贝。几个孩子得知画的价值，纷纷前来寻画，各自的本性暴露无遗。佩内洛普被迫作出选择，这个家将勉强维持还是四分五裂？ 本片根据罗莎莫德·皮尔彻的同名小说改编，全球销量超过500万册，作者凭此小说跻身世界最畅销的小说家之一。 Sixty-four year old Penelope Keeling has brought up three very different children: Olivia, her 'special child', who like her mother is both tough and vulnerable; Noel, her ruthless and selfish son, and Nancy, the first born, embittered by greed and jealousy. It is a mild heart-attack that allows the sixty-four year old to take the time to reflect on her past full and varied life: a bohemian childhood in London and the wilds of Cornwall, an unhappy wartime marriage, and the one man she ever truly loved. It is the discovery that her most treasured possession, her father's painting, The Shell Seekers, is now worth a small fortune though that proves most alarming. For it is only then, as her 'loved ones' gather, that their true characters come to light and Penelope is forced to make the decisions that will determine whether they can continue to survive as a family, or be split apart. This is an adaptation of the work of Rosamunde Pilcher, based on the novel of the same name that has sold over 5 million copies world-wide and propelled her to the top of the international best-seller lists.