Portrait of a Marriage

- Season 1

(1990)

In 1940 England, feminist poet Vita Sackville-West gets a phone call from Violet Keppel Trefusis which triggers a flashback to 1917 where Violet first came for a visit at Vita's country house. Violet is dismayed to find her gallant, heroic Vita ensconced in a cozy marriage to diplomat Harold Nicolson, her wild spirit seemingly tamed by her roles as wife and mother to their two young sons, Ben and Nigel. Vita loves her husband, and values him as a great companion. When Harold tells Vita of his past sexual dalliances with men, his disclosure opens the door for her to ...

Vita and Violet's romance grows which leads to Vita dressing up as a man (an injured soldier on leave from the front) and meeting at hotels and boarding houses in London to continue their romantic tryst. However, Vita continues to have a loving and respectful relationship with Harold, but she doesn't hesitate to spend his money for spontaneous trysts with Violet. And she refuses to lie about her relationship with Violet, or give any false hope to Harold that it is less important to her than her marriage to him. Harold's willingness to accept his wife's love affair ...

With the end of World War I in 1918, Vita returns to her family home to her husband and sons. However, she continues to write and correspond with Violet, who is still being courted by Trefusis who is clearly devastated by his inability to win her over with gushing adoration and endless indulgences. Vita's mother, Lady Sackville, strongly disapproves of her dalliance with Violet and her neglect of Harold and the boys. After another romantic tryst with Violet, Vita learns that she has decided to accept Trefusis marriage proposal which sends her into a fit of jealous ...

In 1921, Violet is unhappy with her celibate marital life. Vita manages to get in touch with her to persuade her to leave her husband and run away with her, first to Paris and then to Greece where they can live out a life together. Trefusis relays this to Harold and they team up together to travel to Paris in a last ditched effort to stop their spouses from making what might be a mistake. Once Harold and Denys track down Vita and Violet at their hotel room, Harold tries to persuade Vita to return to him not for his sake but their children's as well. Vita initially ...