Hugh Paxton was a very important archaeologist and highly influential man. So important that the BBC have decided to make a documentary on his life, focusing on the dig that made him famous. The trouble with digging around in the past, though, is that it disturbs the present as well. Hugh's beautiful, flighty widow Laura, her prickly daughter Kate, and Kate's charming fiance Tom are each determined, in their own way, to keep the past in its place. But history has a habit of rearing its head. And as the film-makers take over the family home, and begin to delve into Hugh's life, there are unexpected upheavals along the way.