The Colonel is in search of health, not romance, when he visits the Elm Park Hydro, for rest and exercise. Things change when he meets Ms Mackay.
A young girl and her mother stay at a shabby guesthouse. She's enchanted by her holidays, and in particular by Miss Alliott who shares the cottage with a companion, Miss Martin.
Diffident and perpetually flustered mother tries to keep the affections of her son, continually embarrassing him in front of school mates and teachers, while he sees his (jolly) father in a stable and calm relationship with his new wife. She struggles to find her own identity.
A farm family catch a young man stealing eggs from their barn. Seemingly homeless, the man stays with them. Daughter Grace is disgusted by the stranger at first. The relationship between the outsider and the family changes course.
The story involves the tension between a young girl preparing to enter a convent and her mother, who plans a cruel going away party. Based on a short story by Rumer Godden.
A British woman falls for a German prisoner of war, despite the fact that her fiancée was killed by Germans during the war.