When the Second World War ends, "the boringness of public events" combines with continued shortages to curtail conversation in the parlors and drawing-rooms of Barsetshire: there's "really nothing to talk about but food." But happy tongues begin to wag at last when a war widow and her unmarried sister-in-law take up residence in a cottage at Southbridge. The young women's arrival and the promise of romantic possibilities it carries create a delightful stir among the bachelors and matchmakers of Barsetshire society, providing a welcome distraction from the lingering privations of peacetime.