This, the third volume of the The Cazalet Chronicles, takes up the story of the Cazalet family in the spring of 1942 and follows them through the war to VE Day. Polly and Clary have left Home Place for London where Archie Lestrange keeps a close eye on them; Louise, surprisingly, has married; Polly makes a painful discovery; Zoe, despairing of Rupert's return, stumbles on solace; and Edward's duplicity demands a reckoning.
Criminal investigating officer Hanne Wilhelmsen considers the possibility of a serial killer as she tracks down a series of numbers written in blood appearing on walls all over Oslo.