Set in the Scottish country house of Kiloran House, the Pettigrew family faces a tremor of change as World War I ends, seen through the patient, observant eyes of Fraser Pettigrew, Robert Norman. The estate is steered by Gamma MacIntosh, Rosemary Harris, a formidable matriarch whose word carries weight and whose quiet authority keeps the family in line even as the world beyond their doors begins to shift.
The household is built around a tense rivalry between two generations. Morris MacIntosh, Malcolm McDowell, returns from London with a charm and a sharp wit that hides his own ambitions, while his sister Moira, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, has followed a more traditional path. She fell in love with Edward Pettigrew, Colin Firth, a man who embodies country gentry: he runs a small moss-based venture, clings to pious routines, defends tradition, and treasures Beethoven above all else, an inventor’s mind always itching for improvement around the estate.
Morris brings a gust of modern life to the house, and with his bright, glamorous French fiancée, Aunt Heloise, Irène Jacob, the children hear the new sounds of a changing world. Jazz comes into the mix, introduced as something daring and dangerous—the “sound of the devil speaking,” as Edward quietly notes. He clings to the old ways even as the world he loves begins to loosen its grip.
Amidst this clash, the Pettigrews’ life is briefly interrupted by a new suitor for the eldest daughter Elspeth, Kelly Macdonald, a French pilot named Gabriel Chenoux, Tchéky Karyo. His arrival marks the intersection of travel, danger, and the allure of far-off skies, a contrast to the mossy calm of the estate.
Fraser, the narrator, uncovers his grandfather MacIntosh’s hidden book collection, a discovery that feeds his hunger to read everything aloud. In a moment of mischief and misunderstanding, he misreads a term and suggests at Morris and Heloise’s engagement party that Moira, Heloise, and Gamma should enter into prostitution to boost the moss business—a reckless notion that tests loyalties and reveals the tensions simmering beneath the surface. The idea lances through the room, and the shadow of that moment lingers as the family tries to recalibrate.
The fault line in the family’s harmony widens when Edward himself makes a troubling advance toward Heloise just before the wedding, a wound that only deepens the ache between the generations and the couples who orbit one another.
Tragedy arrives in a winter moment when Gamma falls through the ice during a curling game, dying soon after from pneumonia. Her death turns the estate’s future into a battleground, as she leaves the property to Edward. At the wake, a heated confrontation erupts between Edward and Morris, revealing that the fight over the estate is only part of a broader struggle over affection, power, and legitimacy. Moira finally speaks plainly, telling Edward that she has known about him and Heloise all along, a revelation that shifts the family’s balance, even as life moves forward.
Months slip by, and Edward manages to win back Moira, restoring a familiar, if uneasy, routine to the household. The Pettigrews drift back into their Sunday rituals and quiet domestic rhythms, even as old resentments hover at the edges of every room. Fraser, meanwhile, remains a keen observer of a world that is both enchanting and perilous.
In a final, quiet beat, the family faces a Sunday morning ritual anew. Edward finds Fraser lounging in the library, absorbed in one of his grandfather’s risqué volumes, a cognac glass half-full of milk in one hand and a lit cigar in the other, while Louis Armstrong’s soulful tune “On the Sunny Side of the Street” drifts from a hidden source—an intimate gift from Heloise. Rather than anger, Edward smiles and closes the door, leaving Fraser to savor the moment in the knowledge that the old world’s secrets endure even as the new one stirs outside.
> "the sound of the devil speaking," according to Edward.
