The third in the classic trilogy of novels about the Eliots of Damerosehay. David Eliot finds his career as a successful and much acclaimed actor a definite strain and his brittle conversation and seeming arrogance earn him the dislike of his new secretary Sebastian Weber. But when he comes to stay at Damerosehay Sebastian learns that in the private world of his marriage and his children David is a very different person, and the warmth of his welcome there helps him to overcome his great personal suffering and unhappiness.