Invalided out of the army at the end of the Second World War, Matthew Wallingham can"t even look forward to his new future. As he lies in a hospital bed, he wonders what place there is in a new social order for a blind man - even if he is a decorated war hero. He has the sympathy of his family and his friends, but it seems that the only person who is able to help him in his depression is his nurse, Liz. Outside, Britain is adjusting to the realities of austerity; the price of peace is plain to see in the shortages of daily life and the shabby bomb-damaged cities. It is to this world that millions of ex-service people are returning to families, homes and unfamiliar jobs in civvy street. Matthew is one of them. When he arrives home, he realises that his family have their problems too. His father is ill, and his mother is obviously unhappy, while his younger brother, who has made a success of running the farm on the family"s estate in the war years, is resentful that Matthew should...