context: This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (July 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This article may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may only interest a specific audience. Please help by spinning off or relocating any relevant information, and removing excessive detail that may be against Wikipedia's inclusion policy. (October 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This article may need to be rewritten entirely to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards. You can help. The discussion page may contain suggestions. (October 2015)
  1802, London. The mysterious Lord Steyne (Gabriel Byrne) goes to a painter's studio where he has agreed to buy a painting of a young woman. The young Rebecca "Becky" Sharp (Reese Witherspoon), then a girl of ten, insists on having ten guineas, instead of four guineas, as the price of the painting. The painter explains that the model in the painting is Becky's mother, the painter's late wife. Steyne agrees to pay the higher amount and leaves with the painting. The young Becky is seen moving to Miss Pinkerton's Academy for Young Ladies after her father's death.
  The now-adult Becky Sharp is preparing to leave the academy for a position as a governess. She travels by carriage to her new position, stopping on the way at the home of her best friend Amelia Sedley (Romola Garai) and her family. Amelia lives in a large estate as the daughter of a gentleman, though her father is not as wealthy as he appears. Becky meets Amelia's brother Joseph "Jos" Sedley (Tony Maudsley), who's stationed in India. Jos finds that Becky is interested in India. During an outing at Vauxhall, Becky meets Amelia's inattentive boyfriend, the dashing and self-obsessed Captain George Osborne (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), and his best friend, Captain William Dobbin (Rhys Ifans), who is secretly in love with Amelia. Jos is smitten with Becky, but in a private discussion, George convinces Jos to break off his attentions to the penniless girl. George is concerned that his father, a rich businessman who's a commoner, won't let him marry Amelia if Becky has also married into the Sedley family.
  Becky enters the service of baronet Sir Pitt Crawley (Bob Hoskins), as a governess to his daughters. Sir Pitt has two sons, the pompous and pedantic elder son (Douglas Hodge), who also bears the name Pitt Crawley, and the dashing younger son, Captain Rawdon Crawley (James Purefoy). Sir Pitt is impressed with Becky's service, especially as Becky cleans up Sir Pitt's home to welcome his elder half-sister, Miss Matilda Crawley (Eileen Atkins). Miss Crawley is impressed with Becky, when she finds that Becky speaks French. Becky explains that her mother was French while her father was an artist. Miss Crawley takes Becky to live with her in London. In London, Becky begins to see Captain Rawdon Crawley. Sir Pitt shows up in London. His wife has died, and he asks Becky to marry him. Becky refuses, revealing that she's already secretly married to Captain Rawdon Crawley. The misalliance so enrages Miss Crawley that she throws Becky out and refuses to see the couple. Becky and Rawdon live in an apartment in London, and Becky reveals that she's pregnant, and suggests that the baby may help to reconcile them with Miss Crawley.
  Meanwhile, Amelia's prospective father-in-law, Mr. Osborne (Jim Broadbent), is trying to arrange a new marriage for his son George. He introduces George to a young woman whose father made a fortune in Jamaica. George objects to the marriage as the woman is of mixed race. He insists that he's betrothed to Amelia, but Mr. Osborne insists that George marry the woman from Jamaica.
  Amelia's father, John, goes bankrupt, and the Sedley household goods are sold at auction. Lord Steyne buys a landscape painted by Becky's father. Dobbin buys Amelia's piano and gives it back to her, but Amelia thinks it is a gift from George. George then elopes with Amelia, and Mr. Osborne disinherits him.
  While these events take place, Napoleon has escaped from Elba and is once again in control of France. Rawdon, George, and Dobbin are suddenly deployed to Belgium as part of the Duke of Wellington's army. Becky and Amelia decide to accompany their husbands.
  The newly-wedded Osborne is growing tired of Amelia, and he becomes increasingly attracted to Becky. At a ball in Brussels (based on the famous Duchess of Richmond's ball on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo), George gives Becky a note which she hides in her bodice. Amelia also attends the ball, but she becomes sick as the result of pregnancy. Rather than attend to his wife, George spends the evening dancing with Becky; Dobbin attends to Amelia instead. The ball is interrupted by an announcement that Napoleon has attacked, and the army will march in three hours.
  Amelia has been deeply hurt by her husband's attentions toward Becky, but Becky reassures her that George would do nothing to hurt her. That night, Rawdon discusses his finances with Becky, giving her all the money he's won at cards. The next day, Becky tries to flee the city. One of the other Englishmen wants to buy her horse, and she agrees provided he gives her a seat in his carriage. However, when Becky sees Amelia in the fleeing mob, she leaves the carriage to take Amelia back to Brussels where they wait out the battle.
  In the ensuing Battle of Waterloo, George is killed. Amelia bears him a posthumous son, who is also named George. Mr. Osborne refuses to acknowledge his grandson. So Amelia returns to live in genteel poverty with her parents. Now-Major William Dobbin, who is young George's godfather, begins to express his love for the widowed Amelia by small kindnesses. Amelia is too much in love with George's memory to return Dobbin's affections. Saddened, he transfers to an army post in India, to which Jos has already returned. Meanwhile, Becky also has a son, also named after his father. However, the army has been demobilized, and Rawdon, although now a colonel, has no income.
  Several years pass. Miss Matilda Crawley and Sir Pitt Crawley have died, leaving the family fortune in the hands of Sir Pitt the Younger. Rawdon and Becky reconcile with the family, but it does little to help their finances. Rawdon is now in debt due to his gambling. However, Lord Steyne comes to the rescue. Steyne offers to re-introduce Becky into London society. At her first outing, however, all the women ignore her until Lady Steyne takes pity on her and asks her to sing a song. Becky's singing attracts the admiration of both sexes, and she's now accepted. Steyne arranges to send Becky's son, now around nine, to boarding school so he can have more time with her. Amelia agrees to turn her son over to her father-in-law who can give him a luxurious upbringing. Steyne arranges a bizarre entertainment for the king (the notorious womanizer George IV). Several noble ladies in highly revealing costumes perform a suggestive Indian nautch dance, with Becky as the star dancer. The king is pleased, and invites Becky to sit with him at dinner.
  Rawdon is thrown into debtors' prison. Steyne tells Becky that he will arrange for Rawdon's bail, but not until the following day. His price for Rawdon's freedom is for her to sleep with him. Becky refuses, but Steyne tries to force himself on her. Rawdon returns at that moment, his debts having been paid by his family. He beats Lord Steyne and throws him down the stairs. However, Rawdon refuses to believe Becky when she insists that Steyne forced his attentions on her, and he leaves her. The army offers him a post as the garrison commander on Coventry Island, which he accepts.
  Twelve years later, Becky is working as a card dealer at a casino in Baden-Baden in Germany. She meets the young George Osborne at a card table, who is traveling with his mother and Major William Dobbin. Dobbin tells Amelia he believes Becky killed Rawdon, but Amelia points out that Rawdon died of tropical fever.
  Although Amelia is traveling with Dobbin, she still refuses to return his affections. Becky tells Amelia that she shouldn't be clinging to the memory of her late husband because George wasn't the saint she thought he was. To prove her point, Becky shows Amelia the letter that George had given her on the eve of Waterloo. Jos, who has been traveling with Major William Dobbin, is still enchanted by Becky. Becky marries Jos, and he takes her to India, where she had wanted to go.
  Alternate ending[edit]
  Becky Sharp arrives at the house of her brother-in-law, Sir Pitt Crawley the Younger. As Becky nears the house a servant questions her and tells her that Sir Pitt's funeral is being held there. While talking to the servant, Becky spots a young man and asks the servant who it is. He tells her it is the new baronet, Sir Rawdon Crawley (Robert Pattinson) - Becky's son. Sir Rawdon notices her and asks if there is any way he m doesn't know who she is, Becky replies that she isn't sure he would want to help her if he knew who she was. Rawdon reveals that he knows who she is, and when Becky tries to reach out to him, he steps back. Becky then tries to convince him that she still loves him, even though she abandoned him. Sir Pitt's widow Lady Jane appears, in mourning, and Rawdon exclaims that "she [Becky] is here to claim me as her own." Lady Jane replies that he is. Rawdon says that it is too late for Becky to play the mother now, then turns and leaves. Lady Jane explains to Becky what has happened and leads her to Sir Pitt's grave. Lady Jane then makes a short speech, concluding "love is vanity's conqueror." During Jane's speech, Becky's son Sir Rawdon comes to stand behind her and takes her hand in his. The scene ends with Becky repeating Lady Jane's words.
question: Who wrote the book the movie is based on?
answer: William Makepeace Thackeray