This bildungsroman follows the lame Rickie Elliott from the tortures of public school, to Cambridge, to a career as a struggling writer, and then to a life as schoolmaster married to the beautiful but unappealing Agnes Pembroke. On a visit to his aunt, Rickie discovers that he has a half-brother, the healthy and 'pagan' Stephen Wonham — and the ensuing complications caused by Agnes' interference bring the story to its tragic close.