Douglas Kingsley is an inspector at Scotland Yard in 1917. When he refuses to enter military service during the WWI drafts, he is publicly ridiculed. As a government figure, he is expected to volunteer for such services, but Kingsley does not support the war and considers it an illogical way to settle disputes. For this he is tried and sentenced for attempting to escape the draft. Even his wife, Agnes, loses faith in him because of his decision.
Alone in a prison cell, Kingsley really has been abandoned by all of his former friends. Worse yet, he faces great danger as a government official in prison. He runs into several people whom he arrested and placed in prison, each of whom violently assaults him. As time goes on, Kingsley's routine becomes one of daily survival, avoiding the vengeance of any potential enemy, of which he has many.
To his surprise, he's rescued by the Home Office, a branch of the British government responsible for immigration, security, and maintaining the law. They burst into his cell one day and kidnap him, faking his death. He is assigned with a mission to investigate the assassination of a former poet and decorated soldier, Viscount Abercrombie.
Kingsley travels to Flanders to conduct his investigation, eager to prove himself worthy of the rescue from prison. Unfortunately for him, he has a controlling and unempathetic supervisor named Captain Shannon. Avoiding this man's interference distracts Kingsley from his mission several times. Eventually, however, he learns that Abercrombie was becoming frustrated by the war and was in the process of writing poems about how he had lost his motivation. He also discovers that Abercrombie was gay. After being wounded, Abercrombie was convalescing in a military hospital when he was assassinated, most likely for the nature of his recent poetry.
