The lives of the talented Aubrey children have long been clouded by their father's genius for instability, but his new job in the London suburbs promises, for a time at least, reprieve from scandal and the threat of ruin. Mrs. Aubrey, a former concert pianist, struggles to keep the family afloat, but then she is something of a high-strung eccentric herself, as is all too clear to her daughter Rose, through whose loving but sometimes cruel eyes events...

Sequel to: The fountain overflows, and This real night. Twin sisters, Rose and Mary Aubrey, proceed into the adult world and deal with their sexuality in post-World War I England.