Centres around ambitious independent politician Henry Trebell, his plans for a bill to disestablish the Church of England, and his fall from grace and suicide after his affair with a married woman who dies following a botched abortion.

Ossian Flint is an elderly Anglican vicar whose way of life has long been the cause of scandal. He has had as little respect for the seventh commandment during nearly half a century of married life as he has had faith since his ordination. The winter of his life is transformed by his encounter with Dixie, a simple young Irish hirl, unmarried and pregnant, late of Holloway prison.

A group of friends and relations gather at a country estate to see the first performance of an experimental play written and staged by the young man of the house, Konstantin, an aspiring writer who dreams of bringing new forms to the theatre.

In 1907, after a tempestuous storm claims the life of a well-known and loved member of the community, the reactions of the villagers are explored, as well as the attempts by two young lovers to break away from the constraints of the hierarchical, and sometimes irrational, society.

Two gentlemen have fallen on hard times, so they plan to travel through small towns, entrap young heiresses, steal their money and move on, but romance gets in the way.

Georges Danton, a leader of the French Revolution, created the office of the Revolutionary Tribunal as a strong arm for the Revolutionary Government. Within months, he knew this power was a terrible mistake and fought to have it ended with tragic consequences.