John Shilcott, a member of the English Parliament, a nervous, sickly man, has long since lost all energy for work, and only at times the increasing doses of morphine which he injects into himself give him the illusion of a surge of vitality. In his family life, too, not all is not well: over the past three years he has become estranged from his wife, there is no spiritual intimacy between them, and Eva Shilcott begs her father to help her get a divorce ...
