Phillip and Lucy have now been married for some years, but Phillip is still restless, forever seeking the pure love that he felt for his first wife. Drawn to his secretary Felicity because of her close resemblance to Barley, he still holds back. Will Phillip ever be entirely hers, she wonders? When the three of them move to Monachorum House, whose land abuts a trout stream, so that Phillip can observe the fish for his next book, the web of love and affection between them becomes increasingly entagled. Still obsessed by memories of World War II, he revists the Western Front . . . scences of the past rise before him . . . while at home political tensions rise. . . .