Rosamund, the main character, a young woman, not married, is pregnant by one of her friends. She is telling Roger, one of her male friends, while they are having a meal in a restaurant.
John Franklin, a young British pilot, has made an emergency landing in occupied France during World War II. He is wounded and is looking for help. He goes into a farmyard and talks to the - elderly - farmer's wife. However, she is too scared to offer any help.
Four children, aged between 8 and 17, are left to fend for themselves after both their parents have died. They live in isolation and have hardly any social contacts. Jack, the 16-year-old son, is talking to his younger sister Sue.
Victor, a young man, has a crush on Ingrid, a colleague. One evening he is walking her home. He is hoping the attraction is mutual and tries to invite her again.
Mrs Moore is visiting her son Ronnie in India, together with Adela, his prospective fiancee. Ronnie wants his mother's advice and after everyone else has gone to bed, there is a confidential talk between mother and son.
The time is around 1880. The captain of an old-fashioned sailing ship is becalmed in the south China sea, miles from land - the nearest land is the bottom of the sea. It is night. As he looks over the side of the boat, he sees a man in the water. The captain is astonished. Where could the man have come from?