On a cruise ship bound for Malaya, Lieutenant Samuel Singleton MC, a decorated World War I pilot, meets Ruth the daughter of Sir Charles Birley, and theirs is an instant attraction. Samuel is intending to start a new career managing a rubber plantation. However, he has left behind his fiancée, Mary, who unbeknown to him is already pregnant with his child. Life isn’t going to be simple for Sam and Ruth, or for Mary, or for the children... children who will meet many years later and fall in love. This story of lives and loves spans the time from before the first World War, through the intervening years to World War II and afterwards, and takes place in England, Malaya and Australia. Good people sometimes make bad decisions with consequences that can cause complications across distance and time. Can love and courage confound problems and overcome the obstacles of an impossible marriage?