On the eve of the First World War, carpenter Tom Munday is content with his lot: he's been blessed with a fine wife and three wonderful children - Ernest, Isabel and Grace. Serious-minded Ernest is called upon to join the army and struggles to subdue his Pacifist beliefs, while Isabel has fallen in love with the Reverend Mark Storey and moves with him to his poor east London parish. Fifteen-year-old Grace, wilful and headstrong, makes a decision with consequences far worse than she could ever have imagined. The Munday family must come to terms with unexpected developments as the war reaches its conclusion, and life moves on.