[2] It is one of his more sombre works, portraying the tragic consequences of anti-foreign hysteria in England just before World War I.

[3] It has been compared to Goodbye, Mr. Chips in its portrayal of small-town life through the eyes of an everyman protagonist.

His frustrations with his relationships with his wife and son lead to his developing an affair with a German dancer,[5] Leni, whom the family takes on as a governess.

The town's prejudice against Leni as a German leads them to convict her and Dr. Newcome despite only circumstantial evidence.

[6][7] A one-hour radio adaptation by James Hilton and Barbara Burnham was broadcast on the BBC National Programme on 6 April 1938, with a cast that included Emlyn Williams as the doctor, Edgar Norfolk, Gordon McLeod and Nan Marriott-Watson.