At a party in the Capulet mansion, Romeo (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Juliet (Claire Danes) meet for the first time. The couple cannot take their eyes off each other.
Rose (Joan Chen) and her husband 'Uncle Bill’ (Steven Vidler) kiss after she moves back in, seven years after she left him. Rose’s son Tom (Joel Lok) gets a nosebleed as he watches them.
Soon after Rose (Joan Chen) returns to live with ‘Uncle Bill’ in Melbourne, Bill goes back to sea for four months, leaving her in the house with his disapproving mother (Kerry Walker).
On a return visit to Melbourne, Frank has had a heart attack. In hospital, Frank (Leo McKern) insists he will go back up north as soon as he can go, with or without Frances (Julia Blake).
The girl (Chloe Ferguson) listens as her parents argue in the next room. Kate, a babysitter (Kate Greetham), arrives as the parents are about to go to counselling.
A TV news reporter describes a bitter rivalry in the city of Verona Beach. Engaged in the deadly feud are Romeo’s Montague family and the Capulet family of Juliet.