All the books by Gordon M. Williams adapted to cinema and television

After securing a grant to study stellar structures, American applied mathematician David Sumner moves with his glamorous young English wife Amy to her home village of Wakely in the Cornish countryside. Amy’s ex-boyfriend Charlie Venner, along with his cronies Norman Scutt, Chris Cawsey, and Phil Riddaway, immediately resent that the meek outsider has married one of their own.

In 1800, as Napoleon Bonaparte rises to power in France, a rivalry erupts between Armand and Gabriel, two lieutenants in the French Army, over a perceived insult. For over a decade, they engage in a series of duels amidst larger conflicts, including the failed French invasion of Russia in 1812, and shifts in the political and social systems of Europe.

Scriptwriter David Sumner and his wife Amy relocate to rural Mississippi where Amy grew up. While in town one afternoon, David meets Amy’s ex-boyfriend Charlie and his three friends, Norman, Chris, and Bic. David is intimidated by the men, but they have already been hired to fix the roof of the barn on Amy’s property.