In late 1920s England, on the verge of the Great Depression, John Oakley owns a small manufacturing plant that has fallen on hard times. Taxes are rising, orders are dropping, and the firm is gradually heading towards bankruptcy. But his grown children--Alway, Frida, Elsie, and Nina--are clueless as to the financial situation of the family, and live their lives according to the dictates of the "fast crowd" of the time. Wright's setting and characters, partially based on events in his own life, come vividly alive on the page, as his children and grandchildren struggle with problems of life and death, religion, love, marriage and parenthood. A marvelous family saga of an era long-vanished.