London, 1993: a wild range of clubbers get together to drink, drug, dance and waste the night away at one of city's most happening underground venues...Club Le Monde.
Harry Jenkins is a self-made business man, who one day receives a message that his only daughter has died in a car crash. Last time he saw his daughter was at his wife's funeral. When trying to deal with his daughter's affairs, he finds out he is a grandfather of a nine-year-old girl, named Saffron. Since he is her only relative, social services hands over Saffron to him. At first he tries to get rid of her, but he soon finds out that they share more than his daughter, Saffron's mother. They take a trip from Manchester to London, to find Saffron's estranged father, but they find so much more
Vivendo em um asilo ao término de sua vida, o Marquês de Sade (Geoffrey Rush) torna-se amigo do diretor do asilo em que reside, Abbe Coulmier (Joaquin Phoenix). Com ele o Marquês troca confidências a respeito da afeição de ambos para com a lavadeira do asilo, Madeleine (Kate Winslet). A amizade de ambos cresce cada vez mais, até que Napoleão Bonaparte envia ao asilo um conceituado médico (Michael Caine), no intuito de curar o Marquês de sua suposta loucura. Entretanto, a vinda do médico apenas faz com que o caráter rebelde do Marquês fique cada vez mais forte.
