Sammy Mountjoy, a successful painter, looks back over his life to discover the moment when he lost his freedom. His memories take in a poor childhood in an English village, his schooldays, his love affairs, and his time as a prisoner of war. As he searches, he meets people whose influence on him was deep, including a religious schoolteacher and a rationalist science master. The book is told in shifting, thoughtful episodes. It is a serious inquiry into choice, responsibility and belief, written with intensity and some compassion.