Hilary Fairfield returns home after fifteen years in an asylum with his sanity restored. But he is disturbed to find that everything has changed: his daughter grown and about to marry; his wife divorced and also about to marry.

Meg Fairfield secures a divorce from her husband Hilary, and is about to marry Gray Meredith when Hilary returns cured. Sydney, daughter of Hilary and Meg, is engaged to Kit Pumphrey, son of the parish rector who refuses to permit his son to marry Sydney when he learns her mother is divorced....

Father's return from the insane asylum spells calamity for the Fairfield family.

Miguel is a young Spanish naval engineer in love with an American student of History of Art. When she becomes pregnant, she decides that the easiest solution to her situation is to marry her civilly. However, in Spain in the 1970s, prior to the passage of the Divorce Law, the only way to do so is to apostatize the Catholic Church. For Miguel, a believing devotee, taking this step involves a deep inner conflict.