With a backdrop of World War II and its aftermath, in England in 1952, the peace of a usually quiet small village in the Chilterns is shattered when an eleven years old boy is the victim of a vicious attack. This triggers the memory of his working-class mother, a nurse at the local cottage hospital, and she thinks back to the terrible events of 1940 and their impact on village life. She wistfully reminisces about her son’s upper-middle-class father, a Spitfire pilot reported missing during the Battle of Britain.
In addition to the difficulties and worries due to the war, the boy’s mother and grandmother have to cope with the class system, and the stigma of the boy’s illegitimacy. The people of the village are traumatized and shocked by the tragedy. They are fearful for the safety of their children.
Will the guilty criminal strike again? The police are urgently trying to track him down.
Can the village return to its erstwhile peace and quiet? The future alone can provide the answer.
