At the end of the Second World War Matthew Wallingham returns to his home, blinded and uncertain about his future, to be confronted with his family's problems. His father is ill, and his mother is obviously unhappy, while his younger brother, who has made a success of running the farm on the family's estate in the war years, is resentful that Matthew should think he can help him. The only person Matthew feels he can talk to is his grandmother,and apparently she is regarded as a holy terror by the rest of the family.