This is the story of a family of whisky distillers from Perthshire: Charlotte, who gets engaged to Lieutenant Geoffrey Armitage as World War I breaks out, her sister Nell who has visions, brothers Peter, and Andrew - who gambles, and cousin Wonky. Their mother is dead and father, Murdo, has a heart condition. The war takes its toll on them as the men become soldiers and the women nurses. Andrew is in Ireland and involved in the 1916 Easter uprising. When his girlfriend and her family are killed by an Irish militant, he kills the man and his family, as well as six others. Geoffrey is wounded, becomes depressed and kills himself. As the war ends, they return to Scotland a different family and now must cope with the changes that have happened and those still to come...