As the play begins, Anne and Mervyn, a seemingly well-seated middle-aged couple, are awaiting the arrival of Helen and David, a younger couple who were formerly their neighbours and close friends. Their reunion begins on a light and humorous note, but as the after-dinner talk grows more serious we become aware that the two couples had once engaged in an adulterous arrangement - and both have found it difficult to deal with the self-recriminations which this has created. Mervyn has begun to drink more than he should; Anne is coldly cynical; and Helen and David have turned to group therapy. But their problems still remain and, as the conversation becomes more revealing - and provocative - the underlying values of human existence are drawn into question. In the end the inescapability of the deep-seated guilt is powerfully evident with Mervyn, his vulnerability touchingly evident, sinking into tearful, defeated despair.
