Embarking on a shared family life after the events of The Sins of the Father, Harry, Emma, Sebastian and Jessica find their happiness challenged by Emma's brother's engagement to a fortune-seeker, Sebastian's hedonist pursuits and a grudge-bearing enemy from the past who would destroy their careers.

In the aftermath of an IRA bombing, Harry Clifton uses his new literary station to raise awareness for his POW friend while Giles Barrington works to secure a political career and Sebastian's past threatens his engagement.

In Whitehall, Giles Barrington discovers the truth about his wife, Karin, from the Cabinet Secretary. Is she a spy or a pawn in a larger game? Harry Clifton sets out to write his magnum opus, while his wife Emma completes her ten years as Chairman of the Bristol Royal Infirmary, and receives an unexpected call from Margaret Thatcher offering her a job. Sebastian Clifton becomes chairman of Farthings Kaufman bank, but only after Hakim Bishara has to...

When Ross Buchanan is forced to resign as chairman of the Barrington Shipping Company, Emma Clifton wants to take his place, but Don Pedro Martinez plans to install his puppet, the egregious Major Alex Fisher, so he can destroy the Barrington family firm once and for all. The talented Jessica Clifton, Harry and Emma's adopted daughter, wins a scholarship to the Slade Academy of Art and falls in love with a fellow student, Clive Bingham, who asks her...