A shell-shocked soldier returns from the front lines of World War I with a profound case of amnesia that threatens to dismantle his established life. Chris Baldry arrives home to his wife, Kitty, only to find that his memory has regressed to a time before their marriage, leaving him fixated on a past love, Margaret Allington. The narrative, filtered through the perspective of Chris's cousin Jenny, examines the tension between the reality of the war-torn present and the idealized comfort of the past. As the women in his life navigate his fragile mental state, they must confront the ethical dilemma of whether to restore his memory or allow him to remain in his blissful, delusional state.

This novel is widely regarded as a significant contribution to early twentieth-century literature, noted for its sharp psychological insight and critique of social class. Critics often highlight the author's ability to render the trauma of the Great War through a domestic lens rather than the battlefield. The work is frequently praised for its economy of language and the complex moral questions it poses regarding the nature of truth and healing. Readers often find the resolution to be both haunting and intellectually challenging, cementing its status as a staple of modernist fiction.