n 1932 England Sir William McCordle and Lady Sylvia (Michael Gambon, Kristin Scott Thomas) have invited a houseful of guests for the weekend. The event is a Hunting Party. The weekend has hardly started when one of the guests is murdered. Reluctantly, the authorities are called and begin their investigation. As they proceed they discover some unexpected personal entanglements among both the servants and the Gentry. The McCordles' resent the questioning by the police. They consider it "poor etiquette" and beneath them. The household staff run by Jennings (Alan Bates), the butler, and Mrs. Wilson (Helen Mirren), housekeeper, live in a world where servants are invisible. An aristocrat might have committed the murder and not even noticed a servant's presence.