Child of a liaison between an aristocrat and chauffeur, Vivien grows up wild in pre-WWII rural England until sent to a convent for discipline. Time is also spent with her grandmother, as her mother works undercover for England. While training for nursing and tending casualties during WWII, she meets the American doctor she will marry. Life is stormy, but exciting in America; raising a family and a modeling career, yet driven towards suicide by tensions in her tumultuous marriage. Liberated by remarriage and artistic passions given free reign, she zealously immerses herself in altruistic endeavors, including volunteer service in Israel.