Maxim De Winter marries a woman half his age only a year after his first wife, the beautiful and accomplished Rebecca, dies. She finds herself in an aristocratic social world her middle class upbringing did not prepare her for.

In an effort to establish herself as the new mistress of Manderley, Mrs De Winter revives the mansion's famous fancy dress ball. She is encouraged by Mrs Danvers to copy a dress from a painting of a family ancestor, but her husband is furious. Danvers's taunting reaches a climax as she declares Rebecca is still ruler at the house, just as an ominous discovery is made.