A young gardener falls for a wealthy aristocrat, only for the First World War to shatter their dreams of a life together.

SYNOPSIS:

William Pascoe is a young gardener from a working-class family in Cornwall. In the days before the Great War of 1914-1918, his radical views and outspoken nature land him in trouble with his superiors at the Heligan Estate. He also comes to the attention of Diane Luxton, daughter of the landowner, Thomas Luxton.

When Diane almost drives her new car into a tree, William comes to her rescue. She is so enchanted by his mischievous personality that she breaks with protocol and asks him to accompany her to the upcoming Summer Ball. William eventually agrees, but they aren’t prepared for the backlash from her family.

Diane’s parents always believed she’d marry a man of equal class, and her scheming brother, Richard, is appalled that she chooses to date William rather than his best man, wealthy bachelor Rodney Moncrieff. Diane and Rodney have been in an on-off relationship and the Luxtons insist that her future lies with this arrogant playboy.

William’s family are also suspicious of Diane’s intentions. Instead of discussing his future with them, however, William turns to Gerald, the local vicar, a man of honour who has helped educate him. He counsels William and also agrees to lend him a dinner jacket should he decide to go to the ball with Diane.

William and Diane defy convention and share a passionate moment alone in the gardens of the estate at the ball. Having returned to the main house, they discover that Richard has invited Rodney to the party. The Luxton family then confront William and Diane, with Richard insisting that William cannot be allowed to become part of the family. William’s hopes of finding love and happiness are dealt another blow when news filters through that Britain has declared war on Germany, and he will be called up to fight for his country. His brother, Jack, also enlists with the Pioneer Battalion as a tunneller laying mines under enemy lines.

With his dream shattered, William ships out to the Western Front. He survives two years in a living hell before being wounded and taken to a field hospital. While he’s recovering from his injuries, Lieutenant Mark Askew visits him with a proposition. William’s letters home have all been subject to censorship and his superiors are so impressed with the quality of his writing that they ask him to edit a trench pamphlet.

William doesn’t believe he has the qualifications and refuses, although he reconsiders when he realises it will help boost flagging morale among the troops at the front. When he’s well enough to be discharged, he moves in with Sylvie Jourdan, a war widow whose husband had a printing press in their cellar.

Back in Cornwall, Diane has succumbed to pressure from her family and is dating Rodney, but she’s miserable and longs for a second chance with William before she’s forced into an arranged marriage. When a letter arrives from France, Diane feels a glimmer of hope. It’s only when she takes the letter to Gerald that she discovers he is actually William’s father. William, of course, has no idea that his mother has been keeping this secret.

William and his team of walking wounded eventually start work on the first print run of the trench journal. As William settles into his new life, an emotional and physical bond develops between him and Sylvie. William also finds himself becoming a father figure to Sylvie’s young son, Jean-Louis.

The soldiers continue to send letters home, and Diane eventually receives news that William is living with Sylvie. With her heart crushed and her future in Cornwall uncertain, she again defies her family and joins the Red Cross so she can travel to France to find William.

As soon as she arrives, however, she’s confronted with the realities of war: hundreds of wounded servicemen requiring medical care; German aircraft bombing the field hospitals; and confusing information about where men are stationed.

William’s publishing outfit finally delivers the trench journal and they are rewarded with three days’ leave and lunch at British Divisional Headquarters. During his break, William reads the marriage announcement of Diane Luxton and Rodney Moncrieff in an old newspaper.

Although he believes he’s found happiness with Sylvie, William’s heart lies with Diane and the news rocks him to the core. His life spirals further out of control when he learns over lunch with his superiors that a big push is coming at the Somme.

William takes matters into his own hands and tracks Diane down to a hospital in Beauvais. They share a night together and seem to have rekindled their relationship, but Diane lets it slip that Gerald is actually William’s father. With his world unravelling, Diane decides that a clean break is the only option for them.

As if William’s life couldn’t get any worse, he then loses his brother on the first day of the Somme offensive. Confused, heartbroken, grief-stricken and alone, William is captured and spends the next two years as a prisoner of war. He’s only released in November 1918, although as no news of his capture ever reached home, his fate remains unknown, his family convinced that he died along with Jack on the Somme.

William eventually returns to Sylvie, only to find that she has contracted the deadly strain of Spanish flu that swept across the world in 1918. After her death, William realises that Diane has always been the love of his life. With her feelings for him unknown, William takes his biggest gamble by travelling back to Cornwall with Jean-Louis.

Only then does he discover that Diane’s love for him has also endured the grief and heartache thrust upon them.

LOST PARADISE