Quiet and uncomplicated, he lives in a big Edwardian house in the north of Wren Hoe with his wife, and a daughter of eleven years. But Lewis Tumnal and his family are the imaginary lives of Louis Tumnal, a withdrawn and lonely bachelor, ill at ease with himself and in social situations. With few friends, he goes to a night class in photography which he loves, but he keeps himself very much to himself. That is, until he meets Kathryn...