Willie Quinton's life has fallen apart. During the War of Independence the Black and Tans murdered his father and two younger sisters at their Big House in Kilneagh. He and his mother Evie now live in quiet desperation in Dublin. The family's maid, Josephine, looks after them.
He falls in love with his beautiful cousin Marianne Woodcombe, whom he invites to Kilneagh despite his mother's ravings about having no time for these disruptions, constantly fantasising about her husband's murderer, Sergeant Rudkin, and his vegetable shop in Liverpool. Willie intends rebuilding Kilneagh from its dereliction.
Evie commits suicide when Willie is out walking with Josephine, seeking counsel about his feelings for Marianne. She must return to Dorset with her mother but months afterwards, comes back to Dublin, pregnant. Willie is nowhere to be found, believed to have left the country. Only Lanigan, the family solicitor, knows that he is living in a beach shack on the coast, having made provisions for the possible birth of his child.