The story of a century: a decades-long second World War leaves plague and anarchy, then a rational state rebuilds civilization and attempts space travel.
Grace Milroy loses her job working at a factory. However, through a strange set of circumstances, she is taken on as housekeeper at the nearby Swinford Castle the home of the eccentric Duchess of Swinford.
In the years after his graduation Allen Shepherd has become a successful novelist and has married Jane Anderson. A firm proponent of traditional sex roles, Shepherd leaves Jane when she accepts a teaching post at Oxford. He later changes his views, and the couple is reunited.
A woman plans to boost her public profile by getting a divorce. She enlists the help of a male friend to act as co-respondent leading to a series of mix-ups and her eventual decision not to get divorced.
Charles (Henry Hewitt), Joseph (Ian Fleming), and Sir Benjamin (John Charlton) are in love with Maria (Dodo Watts), and Lady Sneerwell (Anne Grey) is in love with Charles.
