S1 • E1
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 rekindle her relationship with Violet - not out of revenge, but out of a desire for equal freedom to explore her own same-sex desires for her best friend that she has experienced since her teenage years, and the same goes for Violet.
S1 • E2
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 another woman shows him borne of his desire to give her the utmost freedom. In conversations with male friends, Harold admits to jealousy, but chalks the affair up to Vita's inability to separate emotion from sex. He feels some pity for her, as her passionate nature seems to cause her pain, while his ability to detach spares him the same. For Violet, any marriage is a requirement to be avoided for as long as possible, and she doesn't hide this fact from her persistent but naïve suitor, Denys Trefusis, with whom she, more than once, unceremoniously turns him away in favor of Vita. But despite Violet's careless treatment of Trefusis, he truly cares for her. So willing is he to submit to her desires that he even agrees to a completely chaste marriage.
S1 • E3
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 rage and practically forces herself on Violet one evening. This event leads to Violet getting married to Denys Trefusis after agreeing to his arrangement of a celibate marriage.
S1 • E4
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 refuses, but once she learns that Violet has in fact been having sexual relations with Trefusis, her jealousy once again takes over and she ends her romance with Violet for good, leaving her heartbroken. Both couples, Vita and Harold, Violet and Denys Trefusis return to England and agree to stay out of each others lives. In 1940, after her phone conversation with Violet, Vita agrees to meet with her to remember their times they had together and Harold agrees to let Vita do so. In 1962 after Vita's death, the aged Harold looks through old letters that Vita wrote to Violet and comes to realize that his wife did love Violet and always had that desire towards her lover.
Vita Sackville-West
Harold Nicolson
Violet Keppel Trefusis
Lady Sackville
Denys Trefusis
Nigel Nicolson
Concierge
Purser
Ben Nicolson
Lady Carnock