The retired Colonel, his niece Lesley, and his friend the Major - a retired army medical officer - are living, to all intents and purposes, a happy, quiet life together in the Colonel's country home. The play opens as they are having tea with a close friend of the Colonel's daughter, Diana, who died apparently from an overdose of drugs three years previously. The Colonel has not recovered from the shock and believes his daughter is away for a time. They are disturbed by the arrival of a stranger who is investigating Diana's death and the tranquillity begins to unravel.