It is the 1950s. A small seaside town in Suffolk, England. Chris, a young boy just entering manhood, together with his friend, witness a couple making love in a field. A girl is later reported missing and the police attend the boys school appealing for help. His friend persuades Chris they should not report what they had seen. The disappearance develops in to a murder investigation and to Chriss distress the police arrest the wrong man. The impending break-up of his parents marriage and his mothers mental breakdown, are the background to Chriss awakening interest in the opposite sex. His increasing guilt over the failure to report what he knows to be vital evidence in the murder investigation finally brings about a violent dnouement.