Helen Fox and her bon viveur husband Harry are the toast of the Bristol set, in the years immediately following the Great War; popular, successful, and blessed with three charming, though wilful, children. Harry's family own Fox Bay, a hotel and private beach on the South Devon coast, and since the death of his father during the war. Harry and Helen often bring large groups of friends down to stay, and their reputation for entertaining becomes legendary.
But in 1920 their world is shattered. Following a disastrous investment in a shipping company, an investment suggested by his best friend, and unable to regain his lost wealth and social standing, Harry falls into a decline which soon spells tragedy and financial ruin for his family. Their future, and that of the family hotel, is set to become extremely complicated.