Sid Gibson is a soap powder salesman who decides what he really needs is TV advertising. The problem is, he's absolutely broke. He calls upon his friend Arthur Ashton, who arranges to sneak a plug for Sid's suds into a live TV spectacular. The public goes bananas for the product but to maintain sales Sid and Arthur must arrange for ever more outrageous plugs on TV shows. The Ascots races, the Edinburgh Military Tattoo - no show is safe.
Alec Graham is sentenced to death for the murder of his girlfriend Jennie, with whom he spent a weekend at the English country home of the parents of his friend Brian Stanford. Alec’s father, David Graham, a not-so-successful writer and alcoholic who has neglected his son in the past, flies in from Canada to visit his son on death row. David then goes on a quest to try and clear his son’s name while battling “the bottle.”
1899년부터 보어전쟁, 빅토리아여왕의 죽음, 타이타닉호의 침몰, 제1차 세계대전 등 격랑의 20세기 초를 겪어나가는 한가족의 삶이 줄거리이다. 영국 상류 가정의 로버트 매리엇(클라이브 브룩)과 그의 아내 제인 매리엇(다이애나 와이너드)은 역사의 소용돌이 속에서 사랑하는 아들(프랭크 로턴)을 잃는다. 비록 전쟁 영웅으로 죽지만 가족에게는 엄청난 비극이다. 역사의 물결이 개인의 삶 속에 들어와 어떻게 조명되는지를 매리엇 일가는 감동적으로 그려낸다
