Swept from the Sea (known as Amy Foster in the UK) is a 1997 drama film directed by Beeban Kidron and starring Vincent Perez, Rachel Weisz, and Ian McKellen. Based on the 1901 short story "Amy Foster" by Joseph Conrad, the film is about a doomed love affair between a simple country girl and a Ukrainian peasant who is swept onto the Cornish shore in 1888 after his emigrant ship sinks on its way to America. Plot Yanko Góral, a Ukrainian peasant, is swept ashore on the coast of Cornwall, England, after his emigrant ship sinks on its way to the United States in 1888. The bodies of his fellow passengers wash ashore and are soon buried in a mass grave. Yanko makes his way to the Swaffer farm, where his dishevelled appearance frightens the family. Amy Foster, however, is not frightened by the stranger. Amy is a loner who visits her parents, Mary and Isaac Foster every Sunday, despite receiving very little love from them. Her father calls her a "queer sort" who collects things that wash ashore, and blames her for his scandalous marriage—Mary was already pregnant before they were married. Amy attends to Yanko—washing, feeding, and caring for him. The next morning, Yanko is taken away by the townspeople to work as slave labour. A few months later, Dr. Kennedy and Mr. Swaffer are playing chess when Yanko approaches and shows the men a series of brilliant chess moves. Dr. Kennedy soon determines that the man is in fact Ukrainian. Having gained a newfound respect for the stranger, the Swaffers take him in, start paying him for his labor, and give him normal working hours. Yanko learns from the doctor that Miss Swaffer, on the eve of her wedding day, had a horse-riding accident and broke her spine. The doctor also reveals that he lost his wife and son to typhus "many lifetimes ago." The doctor's fatherly affection for Yanko is evident in their meetings, where Yanko learns English and the doctor learns chess. Yanko purchases a new suit of clothes with the wages he's saved up, which gives him the courage to visit Amy and ask her to walk out with him. When Mr. Swaffer learns of Yanko's interest in Amy, he tries to dissuade her from any romantic involvement. Amy's parents also urge her to stay away—her mother warning her that love is "God's trick