(Spoilers ahoy! Warning to all who have not seen the film. I give away major plot points in this synopsis, so if you don't want the surprises to be ruined for you,  head back to the main piano page  or   go back to my homepage )

The film begins in Scotland, where we are introduced to Ada McGraw (played by the magnificant Holly Hunter), a woman who has been mute since the age of five. However, as Ada tells us, she does not think of herself as mute, because she has her piano. She expresses herself by playing passionate tunes that she composes, and indeed, the music seems to reveal all that Ada thinks and feels.

We discover Ada's father has married her off to a man in New Zealand, and so she packs up all her belongings, and with her daughter Flora (Anna Paquin, in a stunning performance), heads off to this new land. Much to her dismay, it is a veritable wilderness, a strange and dark place, where it seems to rain year round. However, the land is also rich and lush in many ways.

When Ada's husband Alastair Stewart (Sam Neill) comes to take her to her new home, he thoughtlessly forces Ada to leave her beloved piano behind on the beach.   She reluctantly leaves it, though its loss obviously pains her. When she arrives at her new house, she shuts herself off from her husband and those around her, having no real means of channeling her passion anymore. Of course, her husband doesn't understand this, even after he catches her "playing music" on a table that she has carved piano keys into.  He questions her strange behavior, and asks for advice from an old spinster busy body. Also present at this conversation is Baines (Harvey Keitel), a rugged woodsman who acts as translator between the Maori indians and the white settlers.

Several days later, after Stewart has gone away on a trip, Ada and her daughter sneak out of the house and go to Baines's cabin.  After some pleading from Ada, he reluctantly agrees to lead them back to the beach where they landed.  He then becomes witness to the first passion Ada displays since she has arrived in New Zealand.  As he watches her play, he realizes that the key to Ada's heart is her piano.

Baines aquires the piano from Ada's husband (much to her dismay), hinting that he would need to find a teacher.  Stewart happily volunteers Ada for the task.  Ada goes reluctantly, bringing along her daughter to translate her sign language.  Baines declares that he wants to learn by listening, and so Ada has the opportunity to play whatever she pleases.
  However, soon she learns what Baines really has in mind.  He kisses her and when she tries to leave he makes her an offer she can't refuse.  In exchange for letting him "do things" she can earn her piano back, one key at a time.  She hesistates but then agrees.

At first the encounters are fairly tame.  He tentatively strokes Ada's leg through a tiny hole no bigger than a dime in her stocking.  He watches as she plays the most passionate tunes, and you can tell that he is swept up in the music.  But the encounters grow more bold.  In another visit she takes her overblouse off and he caresses her arms as she plays.  It is a highly erotic moment, but Ada is uncomfortable and launches into a mindless jig on the piano, breaking the spell.  He then tries to pull her to the bed, but she resists.  He says that he just wants to lie there with clothes on, and after a moment of thinking she agrees to do it, in exchange for 5 keys.  The next time she comes, he disappears behind a curtain, only to reappear moments later completely naked.  She goes to leave, but he again offers to bargain.  After a moment, she nods and tells him that she wants 10 keys.

Meanwhile, Flora has been watching all of this through a crack in the wall.  Later she is seen teaching the Maori children how to kiss and they practice rubbing up against trees.  Stewart catches her, and as punishment, she is made to scrub the trees.