A newly married WREN, presumed drowned when her ship is torpedoed, spends three years on a tropical island before returning to England to find her husband remarried with a baby son.
On New Years Eve, 1899, baronet's son Edward Courtney becomes engaged to Kate, his mother's maid, much to the scandal of London society. The film then follows their family through four generations, with separations, joys, tragedies, and service in the Boer War, WWI, and WWII.
