Based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham, The Painted Veil is a love story set in the 1920s that tells the story of a young English couple, Walter (Edward Norton) and Kitty (Naomi Watts). Kitty lives in an age when a proper lady must find a husband. Bored with her life and stifled by her socially conscious mother, Kitty accepts a proposal of marriage from Dr Walter Fane, a quiet, serious doctor who specialises in infectious diseases. Relocating to Shanghai, the Fanes are introduced to English Vice Consul Charles Townsend (Schreiber). While Walter dedicates himself to his work, Kitty and Townsend embark on an adulterous affair. Learning of her indiscretion, and in an act of revenge, Walter takes Kitty to a remote village ravaged by cholera. Amid the human wreckage and tragedy, Kitty and Walter discover forgiveness, understanding, tenderness and eventually each other.