When Alice and Joseph meet, they fall quickly into a tentative but serious relationship. She is a nurse, he a painter and decorator; both are still young and hopeful of each other, but each bring with them an emotional burden. Alice's father has been a yawning absence all her life while her beloved grandmother - who helped raise her - has recently died. For his part, Joseph refuses to speak about his army experience in Northern Ireland and Alice suspects that his general reticence hides a troubled past. When her widowed grandfather begins to tell Joseph about his RAF experiences in 1950s Kenya - stories he had shared only with his wife - something still raw is tapped in Joseph; his reaction to the older man's unburdening of guilt is both unexpected and devestating for them all.
