The events take place in Kenya (British East Africa) between 1914 and 1931, and are narrated by Danish baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke. The film begins in Denmark, where the aging baroness (Meryl Streep) recalls her years in Africa. The main male character in the film is Denis Finch Hatton (Robert Redford), a local hunter whom she meets in Africa when she tries to establish a farm there with her husband, Baron Bror von Blixen-Fineke (Klaus Maria Brandauer). The baron, who is experiencing financial difficulties, ends up buying a coffee plantation instead of a farm, and instead of working on its improvement, he prefers hunting. Karen contracts syphilis from him and is forced to return to Denmark for treatment. After her return to Africa, a romance quickly develops between her and Dennis. After several attempts to turn it into a lasting relationship, Karen realizes that Denis cannot be changed. Karen lives in a European environment and opens a school to teach the natives (Masai) to read and European manners, while Denis prefers to live among nature and the natives as they are. In the end, he dies in a plane crash, and at the funeral, instead of throwing a handful of earth into the grave, Karen moves away from the other Europeans and smoothes her hair, as the Masai do. After the plantation is destroyed in a fire, Karen is forced to return to Denmark, where she becomes a writer 20 years later.