Tom Crick faces the latest in a long series of disappointments that form his life when the British teacher of history is forced into early retirement by the American high school where he works. Challenged by one of his students to make his subject relevant, as his final lecture the fraying Crick tells the history of the English marshlands known as The Fens. He spins a tale that begins before World War I and encompasses his family history, his childhood with his mentally challenged brother, and his romance with the beautiful girl who becomes his wife--now a deeply disturbed woman. In telling his story of incest, abortion, murder, domestic abuse, insanity and kidnapping, Crick gains an understanding of his tragic life as he pierces his students' apathy. Based on the novel by Booker Prize-winning author Graham Swift.