Sebastian is an undisciplined mathematics genius who works in the "cipher bureau" of the British Intelligence. While cracking enemy codes, Sebastian finds time to romance co-worker Rebecca Howard.

Michael Powell teamed with actor James Mason (who also co-produced) to make a film loosely based on the life of controversial Australian artist Norman Lindsay. Age Of Consent stars Mason as a jaded painter who heads Down Under looking for a way to revitalize his creative soul. His self-imposed exile is interrupted by Cora, an uninhibited young woman on her own journey of self-discovery. The Age of Consent (1969), is Powell's final film, centers on James Mason as a disenchanted painter who finds a new muse in a tropical island model (a radiant and sensual, often nude Helen Mirren, in her first movie role).