Family Matters

Robert Arthur Kewdingham is an eccentric failure of a man. In middle age he retreats into a private world hunting for Roman artefacts and devoting himself to bizarre mystical beliefs. Robert's wife Bertha feels that there are few things more dreadful than a husband who will persist in making a fool of himself in public. Their marriage consists of horrible quarrels futile arguments incessant bickering. Scarcely any friends will visit the Kewdinghams in their peaceful hometown Shufflecester. Everything is wrong - and with the entrance of John Harrigall a bohemian bachelor from London who catches Bertha's eye they take a turn for the worse. Soon deep passions and resentments shatter the calm façade of the Kewdinghams' lives.