Connie Sumner (Diane Lane) travels to New York City from the suburban home she shares with her husband Edward (Richard Gere) and young son Charlie (Erik Per Sullivan). It is a very windy day and, caught by a particularly savage gust, Connie falls and bumps into bookseller Paul Martel (Olivier Martinez) in the process. She scrapes her knees, and Paul invites her into his apartment. She stays only briefly, leaving after attending to her knees. She passes the accident off as trivial to Edward. But, she is drawn to the younger man and soon returns to his apartment with eventually disastrous results.

UNFAITHFUL is based on Claude Chabrol's classic LA FEMME INFIDELE (1969). The drama has been shifted from Paris to New York City by scriptwriters Alvin Sargent and William Broyles Jr. Beautifully lit by director of photography Peter Biziou, UNFAITHFUL is staged with rare subtlety by director Adrian Lyne. Diane Lane gives an extraordinarily fine performance, viscerally conveying how torn Connie is between her attraction for Paul and her love for Edward and Charlie. There is excellent support from Gere, Martinez, Sullivan and Zeljko Ivanek. UNFAITHFUL is the rare case of a remake that measures up to, and maybe even surpasses, the original.