Lily Valance wants to forget the war. She's determined to enjoy the world of the 1920s, with its music, singing, laughter and pleasure. When she meets Captain Stephen Winters, a decorated hero, back from the Front, she's drawn to his wealth and status. In Lily he sees his salvation - from the past from the nightmares, from the guilt at surviving the Flanders plains where so many were lost.

But it's a dream that cannot last. Lily has no intention of leaving her singing career. The hidden tensions behind the respectable facade of the Winters household come to a head. Stephen's nightmares merge ever closer with reality and the truth of what took place in the mud and darkness brings him and all who love him to a terrible reckoning...