Elderly Monica Bare (Mona Washburne) and her much younger husband Edward (Dirk Bogarde) ride the ghost train on the pier in the seaside resort of Brighton on the southern English coast. The lady is having a great time, while Edward beside her is cold and bored and lets the third round endure. For tea in a café that they both already know, the worried Edward refines his Monica's tea with a shot of gin, while she is happy that they are now celebrating the one-year anniversary of their marriage. The next day the two drive back to their country house in Hertfordshire, an heirloom Monica from their first marriage, as well as all the fortune that the couple uses to finance their lifestyle, which is theirs and Edward penniless. When they arrive via the gravel driveway in front of the property, it is the housekeeper Emmie (Kathleen Harrison) who greets the returnees. Edward notices that attorney Philip Mortimer's (Robert Flemyng) car is parked in front of the house, which makes him nervous. While he parks the convertible, Monica Bare greets Philip Mortimer in the salon, who, as the family's asset manager, disapproves of Monica's desire to change his will in favor of Edwards. He goes so far as to call Mrs. Bare's marriage to the gallant Edward, whom he considers a marriage swindler, a mistake, when the named walks in the door with a bottle of champagne in his arms and lolls unabashedly on the sofa ...