In 1947 England, in the home of Professor Robert Linden, chair of modern history at the provincial University of Burmanley, rationing and austerity seem to have fostered opportunism, escapism and confrontation within the Linden family, gathered to celebrate Robert's 65th birthday and each of whom is struggling with their own crises.

At the turn of the 20th century, a set of long-married couples discover that due to a bureaucratic quirk they have never actually been married.

Guests at a small hotel are disquieted by the insistence of a mysterious doctor that he has been there before.

An unexpected suicide prompts much speculation about honesty and theft.