Post WWI British society challenges a widowed doctor to accept change when he is asked to investigate the murder of a "sweet young thing" and clear the good name of the son of a colleague.

SYNOPSIS:

Dr. Henry Lamont was against his wife serving as a nurse at the Western Front during WWI while he sat making medical decisions from the safety of the London War Department. Eleanor Lamont was killed, and Henry now operates a surgery assisted by a young aspiring doctor, Peggy, whom he expects to join his practice when she finishes medical school. Many of his patients are veterans, who also visit his friend Dr. Steven Severein, a psychiatrist who hates the sight of blood.

He is approached by his other good friend, Max Polander, to investigate the brutal murder of a eighteen -year-old party girl suffering from syphilis, allegedly murdered by his daughter's fiance, Harmon Crowder. Lamont agrees, but only if the young man is innocent. When he meets Harmon, he realizes he's innocent because Harmon agrees to take the Wasserman test for syphilis.

During his investigation, he learns many things about the real lives of women, including the danger of cheap abortions and the syphilis epidemic, especially to pregnant women. He also learns the class system is alive and well despite the socialism creeping into every level of government, and the incompetence -- and collusion--- among the investigatory agents of the police and the press.

After he discovers a series of contradictions, lies and distortions, his life is in danger from a public who believes he is deliberately shielding Harmon's guilt. With the help of an young Italian immigrant, Dr. Albertini, who photographed the crime scene, he reports to the police that, in his professional opinion, Crystal Vreeland died of a botched abortion and that the mutilation of her body was used to cover up this fact. Moreover, the assailant and/or assistant was probably a woman.

Even his psychiatrist friend rejects this theory. Some may believe newfangled theories about women and crime, but it is still widely held that women enjoy the feminine exception when it comes to violent crime. Now Lamont must argue that ordinary women, indeed, are capable of brutality ... a reality that breaks his heart as it is an admission that the world he knew is no more.

His spirit is broken when Peggy leaves to medical school. He testifies at Harmon's trial as does Harmon's father. After their testimony, Max tells Lamont that Harmon's father lied in court. He and Lamont confront the elder Crowder, and the man confesses he is the father of Crystal's aborted child, and that he is the one who gave her syphilis. When asked how he could allow Harmon to take the blame, Crowder replies that the boy will be acquitted because of his youth and good looks and his impending marriage to Max's daughter. Fathers often sacrifice the lives of their children to protect their wrong-doing, like when they wage war.

Now in an advanced stage of the disease, Crowder attacks Lamont. When Lamont asks Harmon why he allowed his father to shield his own guilt, the boy says he had to protect his mother from the truth, and agreed to protect his father on the condition his father divorces his mother and never has intercourse with her again. Aghast, Max and Lamont realize that, if they don't speak up, both the murder and his assistant, the woman who runs the boarding house for prostitutes who need "medical attention," will go free.

In the end, Lamont and Max testify against the elder Crowder, who is convicted. Harmon settles his German-born mother and his new wife in Berlin. Peggy returns to Lamont's surgery, specializing in female patients. Albertini joins the research hospital where Alexander Flemming discovered penicilin that cured syphilis. Severien concentrates on treating veterans for "shell shock." Lamont was asked by the court to become a coroner for the crown. He was one of the first medical doctors to hold the position.