Spanning four generations and an infinite range of human emotions, When We Were Young is the story of the Mitchell family, beginning in England at the outbreak of World War II and chronicling the triumphs and tragedies of those tumultuous times. Most of all, it is the story of Jim Mitchell, a young, ambitious English boy, hardened by his wartime experience. Eager to grasp life's opportunities, he embarks on an adventure peopled by a rich cast of characters he meets along the way. The raven-haired, charismatic, Maggie Bernadette O'Toole, rebellious daughter of his father's sister, and her Irish immigrant husband; James Thompson, marine engineer extraordinaire, friend, world traveler, and mentor. Nikolai Concalves Cavalantis, an older Brazilian playboy, who was heir to one of the world's leading hotel corporations and his young olive-skinned wife, the beautiful Maria; Lydia Louise Henning, a brilliant academic who served in the SAS during World War II and was captured by the German Gestapo and brutally tortured, leaving her with a fear of men; Jim Mitchell, his grandfather, a farmer, lay preacher, and mentor in his formative years