his three-part miniseries begins with elderly Lady Slane (Wendy Hiller) sitting watchfully by the deathbed of her husband. Tended by her equally aged French maid Genoux (Eileen Way), who has served her faithfully for a lifetime, Lady Slane deals with a succession of advice from her large flock of middle-aged children. The family is chagrined by, but honors, her choice to live a modest country retirement at some distance, in Hampstead Heath. Lady Slane competently comes to terms to lease and restore a crumbling house, aided by an aging land agent Gervase Bucktrout (Maurice Denham). Once settled, an acquaintance from 50 years past, Mr. Fitzgeorge (Harry Andrews), visits the cottage to rekindle memories of their brief, deep, but unfulfilled brush as soul-mates in colonial India when Lady Slane was a devoted young wife and mother. Great-granddaughter Deborah (Jane Snowden), who has been trapped by a socially desirable but passionless engagement, regularly visits to confide and seek wisdom.
Wendy Hiller
as Lady Slane
Harry Andrews
as Mr. Fitzgeorge
Maurice Denham
as Gervase Bucktrout
Phyllis Calvert
as Carrie
Graham Crowden
as Herbert
John Franklyn-Robbins
as Kay
Geoffrey Bayldon
as William
Faith Brook
as Lavinia
Patrick Barlow
as Foljam - Assistant curator
Hilary Mason
as Edith
Jane Snowden
as
Eileen Way
as
