Charley Moon is a sweet, carefree, and playful boy. He lives with his father in an old, crumbling mill on the wetlands of Little Summerford, a village situated on a remote bend of the Thames in the English countryside. Generation after generation, the Moons have looked after the mill, which has certainly seen better days: in the early years of the twentieth century, English agriculture was going through a bad patch and many agricultural businesses were on the verge of ruin. Charley, who suffers from the weight of his roots, feels little attachment to the vicissitudes of the farm and much to the landscape: his favourite occupation is to lose himself in the fields and go on expeditions along the irrigation ditches with his friend Rose. For both of them, the plain of the old mill is an enchanted paradise in which to fish for trout or follow the vivid flash of a kingfisher skimming the water of the stream. As time goes on, Charley joins the army and joins the group of soldiers preparing the Christmas play: this contact with the stage opens an unexpected door for him to the world of acting. Charley, with his natural grace and his gift for music, has a unique ability to provoke laughter and tears in the audience at the same time. One day, a theatre manager discovers his talent and catapults him to success on the stage of London's West End. Years later, his glory fades without anyone knowing how or when. Luckily, Charley is one of those guys who knows that the best always comes when one approaches life without any specific project or desire, just to see what happens, a joy of living that makes something of a future emerge from the world. Many in Little Summerford wonder what has become of that expansive and cheerful boy, and if one day he will return to take things up where he left off.