Harley Granville Barker, the most influential theatre-maker of his time, finds himself adrift in America during the Great War. Estranged from the theatre, and with his spirit almost broken by an acrimonious divorce, he seeks refuge in the relative obscurity of a quiet, backwater, Williamstown, Massachusetts. He finds comfort in the congeniality of his fellow refugees and in the courtesy of strangers – and gradually begins to regain his faith in humanity and his belief in the central role of Theatre in the civilised community.