Julie Christie stars as 'D', a housewife trying to carry on after a cataclysmic war that has left society in a state of collapse, in an award-winning adaptation of Doris Lessing's famous dystopian novel. 'D' spends her time examining her relations with authority, with the marauding gangs of brutalised children who roam the streets, and with Emily, the traumatised, orphaned teenager who is delivered into her care.