The late 1940s and the volcanic dislocations in the aftermath of World War II serve as the setting for this dramatic exploration of postwar British life. The chance encounter of a fastidious Oxford don and a solitary German prisoner before a painting in the Ashmolean museum precipitates a mingling of the two antagonistic cultures and result in a tumultuous tangle of friendship, suspicion, desire, and yearning. The depiction of the grim circumstances of the German laborers and of the tension between the British impulse toward compassion and the desire for reparations are etched with memorable sharpness. This drama of lingering antagonisms, nascent reconciliation, and obsessive love demonstrates the considerable gifts of a master storyteller and keen observations of the human condition.