Heat and Dust fuses several Merchant Ivory themes; the exoticism of India stirring English blood, the past hanging heavy over the present, dirty dealings flourishing behind a cloak of good manners. Anne (Christie) arrives in India to investigate the story of her great-aunt Olivia (Scacchi), an unconventional woman, who did not fit into the straightjacket of the Britsh Raj and caused a scandal back in the 20s. Ivory cuts back and forth between the newly-married Olivia's discovery of India, her colonial boredom, relieved only by outings with the local Nawab, and Anne's, as she follows obsessively in her great-aunt's footsteps. Adapted by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala from her own novel.