
The Second World War is drawing to a close Nicholas Vaughan released from the army after an accident takes refuge in Devon
- renting a thatched cottage in the beautiful countryside at Mallory Fitzjohn Vaughan sets to work farming the land rearing geese & renovating the cottage Hard work & rural peace seem to make this a happy bachelor life On a nearby farm lives the bored flirtatious June St Cyres an exile from London while her husband is a Japanese POW June's presence attracts fashionable visitors of dubious character & threatens to spoil Vaughan's Prized seclusion When Little Thatch is destroyed in a blaze all Vaughan's work goes up in smoke
- & Inspector Macdonald is drafted in to uncover a motive for murder