Steve McTear, a gifted fencer, tries to distance himself from the violent criminal activities of his family. When he finds himself pursued by gangsters, he decides to take a job as a fencing coach at a remote and exclusive school.

Tyneside ship-builder Joe Maddison lost his faith in the trenches at the Somme in 1916. Now that World War II has begun, he is too old to enlist alongside his son and son-in-law, and is also in a reserved occupation so, after his ...