1919: The war is over, but peace is yet to come. As men are demobbed, women must give up positions that gave them freedom. Edward is given an important job at the Peace Conference in Paris, but it means more lonely months away from Beattie and his hoped-for reconciliation. Fred's unit is sent to the Rhine, and Cook feels a guilty relief that her uprooting has been postponed. Laura's friend Ransley volunteers for a further six months, and rather than go home, Laura finds a new outlet: conducting guided tours of the battlefields. In England there are strikes and unrest, hardship and widespread unemployment, and everywhere the sight of the wounded to remind the nation of what it has paid for peace. But as the first, difficult year post-war comes to an end, there are great changes afoot for the Hunter household, wonderful surprises, and the promise of a new start.