Henry and Helen Williamson arrive on the French Riviera looking for a house. Barely thirty, Henry has been forced to retire from the Indian Civil Service due to ill health. The dream-like Villa Lou Paradou enchants them. Carefully they build a life of comfort, with Helen creating a beautiful garden and Henry enjoying the pleasures of the tennis club, the drama society and the company of wounded English officers - the shadow over them is not only Henry's health, but the European conflict. As the story unfolds we see a portrait of a marriage freighted with the seeds of its own destruction as the gifted husband is ensnared by his wife's neuroses, and the paradise they have created for themselves is eaten away from within.