THE STORY: Supported by a grant, archaeologist Arthur Dewing, a man of sixty, and his wife Suzanne, who is half his age, are studying the Roman ruins at Baalbek in Lebanon. The site is visited by a group of American tourists; including a Protestant bishop, his wife and daughter; a spinster school teacher; an aggressive businessman type; and Suzanne’s ex-husband, Neil. Having made a shamble of their marriage and his subsequent relationship, Neil begs Suzanne to return to him. Suzanne is torn between the safe, serene love she found with her husband and rekindled passion for Neil. As she weighs her dilemma the others begin to reveal themselves. The bishop and his wife lament their failure as parents, the school teacher confesses the arid loneliness of her life, and the businessman endangers them all by pursuing the young daughter of a fierce Bedouin who had come to their camp. By the time they must leave, little has been left unsaid and Suzanne has been offered her freedom by Arthur. Her decision, to stay with the wiser, better man, brings deepened insight to all of them and underscores the evolving truth that men must seek life’s true values as individuals before they can hope to find answers to the problems which plague society.
