Mayor George Boswell recalls events of the previous 25 years in his home town of Browdley. As councilman and newspaper editor George has fought hard to better working and living conditions in the bleak Lancashire mill town.

On the day that World War II ends in Europe, Mayor George Boswell (Sir John Mills) recalls events of the previous twenty-five years in his home town of Browdley. As councilman and newspaper editor, George has fought hard to better working and living conditions in the bleak Lancashire mill town. As a young man, he meets and marries Olivia Channing (Martha Scott), whose father was jailed in a scandal involving the mill he owned. Olivia is ambitious and manages to guide George within striking distance of a seat in Parliament. But an outbreak of diphtheria changes George's outlook, and his and Olivia's lives change forever.—Ron Kerrigan <[email protected]>

On VE Day, George Boswell (Sir John Mills), the Mayor of Browdley, Lancashire, a small English industrial town, recollects to himself the past quarter century that shaped his personal and in turn his professional life, with his friend, Dr. Richard Whiteside (Trevor Howard), an alcoholic, at his side through most of it. These major events began in 1919 when George was a city councilor and newspaper editor. He then formally met Olivia Channing (Martha Scott), who would become his wife. He felt that she was being unfairly persecuted by the townsfolk for crimes committed by her father, John Channing (Frederick Leister), the owner of a textile mill. Those crimes, for which he spent twenty years in prison, caused much of the poverty in the town, manifested by the overcrowded housing and unsanitary conditions for which George has always rallied against as a politician. Throughout their marriage, they each have political ambitions for George, which includes a run as a Member of Parliament for Browdley, but have differing motivations for that ambition which destroys their marriage. It isn't until George learns the reason for a tragic event prior to their marriage that he fully understands what he has to do to make life better for the next generation in Browdley, especially for early twenty-somethings Julie Morgan (Patricia Roc) and Charles Winslow (Richard Carlson).—Huggo

In Browdley, a small English mill town, Olivia Channing (Martha Scott) is a candidate for the city librarian position, but her father, a former mill owner, was responsible for the grim conditions in which the poorer townspeople are living. George Boswell (Sir John Mills), editor of the town's newspaper, condemns the council's reluctance to appoint her, and she gets the job. Later, after her father is killed in a car crash, she and George are married. She has high ambitions for his future, and persuades him to stand for Parliament. An epidemic of diphtheria occurs and Bowsell assists the over-worked Dr. Richard Whiteside (Trevor Howard), and withdraws his candidacy. After their son dies from diphtheria, Olivia leaves George. Boswell campaigns for better housing and becomes town Mayor. Years later, Dr. Whiteside's adopted daughter, Julie Morgan (Patricia Roc), is working as a hospital nurse. Charles Winslow (Richard Carlson), a young Air Force officer, and Olivia's son by her second marriage, and Julie fall in love. But after he is disfigured in a flying accident, he falls under the deterrent influence of his mother. But Boswell intervenes.—Les Adams <[email protected]>