1889, and schoolmaster George Lewisham is dedicated towards his future, meticulously planning his way to multiple degrees and a professorship. However, his focus and ambitious dreams are distracted after a meeting with Ethel Henderson.

1892, and with Ethel sent away to Clapham, George has spent almost three years at a London school of science, where he has become a prominent socialist, admired by his peers. But then another chance meeting with Ethel changes everything.

George and Ethel have eloped and gotten married, and must now deal with the aftermath. This means not just the financial strain of their life together, but Ethel's charlatan stepfather, with whom George has moral objections.

After a year of marriage, George and Ethel's relationship is beginning to break down among financial hardship, imagined dalliances and George's unfulfilled intellectual ambitions. Are they able to reconcile their various differences?