The novel opens in the autumn of nineteen hundred and eight, following the newlyweds Ruth Boam and Ernie Caspar as they ride a carrier's cart into Old Town, Beachbourne. Ruth carries a dark past, having borne an illegitimate child, little Alice, fathered by an aristocratic officer named Captain Royal who abandoned her. Ernie, a gentle and somewhat weak-willed man from a respectable local family, has courageously married her despite the bitter opposition of his stern mother, Anne Caspar, and the malicious pursuit of his brother, Alf.
Settling into a modest cottage in the Moot, the couple navigates the quiet rhythms of Sussex rural life alongside local luminaries like the brilliant surgeon Dr. Trupp and the noble Colonel Lewknor. While Ernie works for the transport company, the looming threat of an inevitable war with Germany begins to dominate the conversations of the gentry, spearheaded by the colonel and his national service league. Meanwhile, Alf rises in prosperity through his motor-garage syndicate, continuing to use his dark knowledge of Ruth's past to torment her.
As the years pass towards nineteen fourteen, political and domestic tensions escalate. Ernie struggles with bouts of unemployment and his own inherent weakness, pushing Ruth to the edge of endurance and drawing her close to Joe Burt, a fierce northern socialist and engineer who has brought class-consciousness to the quiet south coast. Yet, despite the intellectual tug-of-war and Alf's relentless blackmail, Ruth remains anchored to her family, demanding that Ernie rise to true manhood.
The narrative culminates in the tense summer of nineteen fourteen. As the unionist crisis in Ulster deepens and the threat of European war looms closer, the personal conflicts between the brothers reach a violent head. Ernie confronts Alf in a desperate street brawl, shaking off his passivity and earning a hard-won respect from Ruth. The book closes on the very brink of the global catastrophe, capturing the serene Sussex landscape just as the avalanche of history breaks over England, forever altering the destiny of its people.
