Bertha Sloper to save face cajoled John Richards, the son of a factory owner into marriage on the pretext that he was the father of her twin boys. During a heated quarrel Bertha confesses her married lover and the real father was John"s school friend Fred Higgs and she married under false presences. Full of hate for his wife and her children John volunteers for the army on the outbreak of the 1914-18 Great War. He is sent to France where in the turmoil his regiment is wiped out leaving him shell shocked. He finds refuge in an old bombed -out farmhouse where he seeks company with a deserted German soldier and the dead farmers wife. Dressed in peasant"s clothes she helps them escape via the river and head for Boulogne. Feared they might be caught and shot for desertion they eventually find refuge with the Salvation Army having got a lift in an army lorry. The driver Fred Higgs recognises John and tries to confront him but the German, [dressed as a woman,] tells him he is mistaken, as they are French peasants. John having lost his memory does not recognise his old school friend but Fred becomes haunted by the sight his pal"s face for years to come. John"s father Isaac Richards is telegrammed from the War Office that their son was Missing believed dead. Isaac taking pity on Bertha is given a house and a position in his factory. In l918 a foreign flu epidemic wipes out hundreds in the town including John"s mother and father, Bertha is promoted and eventually becomes one of the directors of the firm. Fred Biggs returns from the army to find his wife had died from the epidemic. Bertha still in love with Fred offers him a position with the firm and eventually they become an item. Although Bertha wants to marry, Fred is reluctant; still haunted by the face of John he saw in France, believing him still alive even though written proof of death. In desperation Bertha confesses to Fred that the twins were his. He scorns at such a suggestion and believes in his heart that her husband"s still alive and will return. But does he?