Set in a 19th century winter in the drawing room at the decaying stately home of Lord and Lady Cavendish.

Lord Walter Cavendish, an elderly high court judge, is a bigoted old man prone to sudden outbursts.He is also deeply sad as he hides a great secret that he can never share. He thinks that he controls this household. He does not.

Lady Josephine Cavendish, his long suffering wife is trapped in a loveless marriage but seeks solace in books, and in the butler. Highly manipulative and prone to sudden acts of extreme violence when tested, she easily controls her husband, and thinks that she controls Stiles, their butler.

He is very polite in manner but is a subversive influence in this household, for it is he who is manipulative of Lord and Lady Cavendish until his own masculinity is threatened at the end.