Tending her husband's grave one day, Annabel Fox meets Jack Ives, a retired regimental sergeant-major. But when their friendship turns to love and talk of marriage, Annabel's children step in. They have other plans for her and, anyway, "He's so common, mummy..."

A shy, introverted young girl takes a summer job at a seaside resort in Wales, where she finds the staff, the owners and patrons unlike anyone she has ever met before.

The dynamic young headmaster of St Peter's Primary School decides to liven up a parents' fundraising social by hiring a Bavarian band.

Damien Thorn has helped rescue the world from a recession, appearing to be a benign corporate benefactor. When he then becomes U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Damien fulfills a terrifying biblical prophecy. He also faces his own potential demise as an astronomical event brings about the second coming of Christ.

In 1956 Britain staggers through crises in Suez and Cyprus while Leslie Potter pursues and marries Monica Dobbs. Twenty years later the nation has still not recovered. Neither has Leslie.