This film explores the last quarter century of the great eccentric British painter J M W Turner (1775 – 1851). Profoundly affected by the death of his father, loved by a house-keeper he takes for granted (and occasionally exploits sexually), he forms a close relationship with a seaside landlady with whom he eventually lives incognito in Chelsea, where he dies. Throughout, he travels, paints, stays with country aristocracy, visits brothels, is a popular member of the Royal Academy of Arts, has himself strapped to the mast of a ship so he can paint a snowstorm, and is both celebrated and reviled by the public and by royalty.