In 1935, Fanny and her cousin Linda are 18 and about to step out into society. Both live in the madhouse-prison-fairyland called Alconleigh, presided over by Fanny's irascible Uncle Matthew and vague Aunt Sadie. At her first ball, Linda falls fatally in love with a banker's son, Tony. Soon wedding bells are ringing. Meanwhile, Fanny's childhood friend Polly has returned from India. Her relentlessly snobby mother, Lady Montdore, throws balls and parties to marry Polly off, but to no avail. As Fanny finds true love with Oxford don Alfred, Linda leaves dullard Tony for sexy left-winger Christian. Topping off the turmoil, Polly makes a shocking announcement.
Newlyweds Polly and Boy (her mother's former lover) leave for Italy in disgrace with the Montdores, who send for the next in line to the family fortune. A Canadian and therefore a lumberjack in the Montdores' eyes, Cedric turns out to be flamboyantly gay. He hits it off with Lady Montdore and begins her makeover. In France to help Spanish refugees, Linda grows disenchanted with Christian and flees to Paris, where she falls for dashing duke Fabrice and becomes his mistress. As the Nazis sweep across Europe, Fanny, Linda and Polly find themselves back at Alconleigh, where Fanny's itinerant mother has turned up with her Spanish lover. But the reunion is fleeting and melancholy.
