In 1914, Charles Stoker, a brilliant engineer with a wife and young son, is encouraged to join the RFC by his employers. He returns in 1918, a physical wreck who refuses all offers of help from or contact with his former employers. In 1926, Charles is shockingly killed. Thereafter his wife Millie begins to uncover hidden secrets. When, in 1928, their son Charlie, an innocent, goes to college, something happens to turn his life plans upside down. Like his father before him, he faces the devastating consequences.