A harried housewife is criticized by her male-chauvinist husband, who remarks that she doesn't make effective use of her time during the day and insinuates that she doesn't finish her chores because of laziness.
A young woman takes up a job as a cook in a wealthy couple's residence. Her employer, an elderly man is infatuated with her, much to the dismay of his arrogant wife.
Two small boys are playing in a wood. The younger boy has a revolver and, not understanding that the gun differs from his toy pistol, plays 'highwayman' on the road and holds up a cyclist; the gun goes off, killing the cyclist.
Mr. Gray is the new Resident in Charge of the Welcome Islands in the Indian Ocean. The Islands are full of life, but the only other Europeans are the "sanctimonious, psalm-singing" brother-sister missionary team of Martha and Owen Jordans, and the Honourable Ted - a hard-drinking, womanizing social outcast whose English family pays him to stay away.