At a visiting swami's lecture, Edwardian gentleman Fisk (Jeremy Northam) meets his district's strange new clergyman, Dean Spanley (Sam Neill). The dean is a firm believer in reincarnation, which he expounds upon freely when drinking a particular Hungarian wine. Curious, Fisk delivers a case of the stuff to the dean, regaling in the man's stories about his previous life as a dog. Peter O'Toole co-stars in this offbeat British comedy.