The three men have been closely bonded ever since they made a remarkable escape from Occupied France in 1941. Now, in leafy Surrey, the Festival of Britain is being celebrated, but the atmosphere in the village where they all live is tense. A young gardener has been found with his throat cut.
Martin Latimer and Peter Davis seem completely recovered from their traumatic wartime experiences and have settled comfortably into a life of cricket matches and church teas. Since his return from France, however, Tim Groves has changed completely. Gone is the brave and charismatic man Lucy married, replaced by a shadowy, nervous figure.
Lucy is certain that Tim's decline is due to the men's experiences in France, but all three resolutely refuse to talk about what happened there, blaming the Official Secrets Act. Finally, driven to desperation by Tim's anxious and withdrawn state, Lucy persuades him to return to France with her in order to retrace the dark events that broke him.
At first, her plan appears to be working. Tim goes for a walk alone, something he hasn't done for years. But when he doesn't return that night, Lucy begins to fear the worst. Gradually the calamities of the war begin to emerge, and the comfortable Surrey lives of the men and their wives will never be the same again…
