Ken Hutchison stars as the brooding and tormented lover Heathcliff in this BBC television adaptation of Emily Bronte's classic novel. Adopted as a boy by the kindly Mr Earnshaw (John Collin), Heathcliff comes to live with the family at their home, Wuthering Heights, in the Yorkshire moors. He soon falls in love with Earnshaw's headstrong daughter Cathy (Kay Adshead), a doomed relationship that plunges them both into despair when Cathy agrees to marry her rich neighbour Edgar Linton (David Robb).

Tortured by his love, the dark and sinister Heathcliff refuses to relinquish his emotional hold on Cathy, and does everything in his power to destroy the lives of her and her family.