A farmer (George O'Brien) intends to drown his wife (Janet Gaynor), so he can be with a seductive city woman (Margaret Livingston) but is unable to go through with it. Then, as husband and wife encounter a life-threatening rainstorm, their love and loyalty are put to the ultimate test.

Having made two classics in his native Germany—Nosferatu and The Last Laugh—F.W. Murnau emigrated to Hollywood in 1926 to film Sunrise, a poetic fable about temptation and lust. At the first Academy Award ceremony in 1929, the film received Oscars for Most Unique and Artistic Production, Best Actress (Janet Gaynor) and Best Cinematography. The British Film Institute's decennial Sight and Sound poll listed Sunrise as the best silent film and the eleventh greatest film of all time.