A bereaved brother is troubled by memories of his twin who died at sea. Having returned to his childhood home, a Christmas celebration with his brother’s widow and her son goes horribly awry, as dark secrets and sibling rivalries return to haunt them - before the past can be laid to rest.

Jamie leaves the children's home to live with his paternal grandmother. After working in a mine and in a tailor's shop, he is conscripted into the RAF, and goes to Egypt, where he is befriended by Robert, whose undemanding companionship releases Jamie from self-pity.