In the hierarchal structure that pervaded a stately home in England in the 1930s, a poverty-stricken maid, Jane Hennessey, extorts money from her employer, Lady Caroline Melchester. Carolines affair with her employee, Ashley Brownlow, has consequences that changes lives forever. Charlottes last words implore her brother Ashley to reconcile with Lady Caroline. His grief obscures her words because his lovers apathy hastened his beloved sisters death. At the outbreak of World War Two, with his life in turmoil, he enlists in the British army in the first regiment to fight the Germans on French soil. His resentment fuels his patriotic fervour in a fierce battle to the death. By coincidence, he meets his lovers twin sons, who are also part of the pioneering British forces. Their fates are intertwined in the fight for survival on the beaches of Dunkirk. On the outskirts of Paris, Lady Carolines brother, Jean-Pierre, has his chateau confiscated by the occupying German army. As he escapes to England, his servants face oblivion and transportation to the death camp of Auschwitz. Carolines former husband, Baron Grosvenor, suffers potential ruin as his new wife exacts revenge for his criminal past. Meanwhile, Jane Hennessey confesses her former misdeeds. Her political convictions provide rehabilitation for herself and redemption for Lady Caroline.