Elspeth and her unconventional parents decide to settle down in Kenya and begin a coffee plantation. This is a time of discovery for Elspeth, as she encounters the incredible beauty and cruelty of nature, and new friendships with both Africans and British expatriates. A side plot involves the beautiful and bored British Lettice Palmer who enters into an affair with a handsome safari guide. Eventually, however, the excitement of Elspeth's life is disrupted by the onset of WW I, and the changes it brings.

A lonely schoolteacher has a strange experience on her walking holiday. It haunts her and threatens to wreck her growing romance with a colleague.

Two young English women go on a cycling tour of the French countryside. When one of them goes missing, the other begins to search for her. But who can she trust?

Charles Ryder, an agnostic man, becomes involved with members of the Flytes, a Catholic family of aristocrats, over the course of several years between the two world wars.

当阿诺德·罗宾逊爵士告诉汉弗莱·阿普比爵士，他将成为内阁秘书的继任者时，汉弗莱·阿普比爵士得到了他这么多年来应得的奖赏。吉姆·哈克对整件事有着复杂的感受，虽然他很欣赏汉弗莱爵士多年来给他的建议，但他们也有着相当大的分歧。当首相突然宣布辞职时，哈克决定竞选党的领导层。他的主要竞选议题是来自布鲁塞尔的欧共体对香肠含量的新规定，这意味着英国香肠的存亡。