Ruby and Jim Searle run a guest house in Worthing, but the newlyweds have had a rocky start to their marriage. Their troubles are only set to get worse when Jim starts to unravel a dark secret from his past. The popular guest house is asked to take in two German schoolboys on a cultural exchange. Ruby agrees, but when they arrive they seem more like grown men and their activities are far from innocent. Ruby throws herself into war work as a distraction from her troubles at home, but the revelations from Jim's childhood deepen, with devastating consequences...