On a dusty summers day Doctor Faraday is called to Hundreds Hall. Faraday had already been there as a child and his mother was one of the servants in the house. Now he is a doctor, although in an uncomfortable social position within the rigid English class system, and he thinks this visit is a coincidence. But Hundreds Hall is now nothing more than a shadow of its former self: the upholstery hangs in tatters, the woodworm fattens itself on the interior of the house and weeds cover the gardens.