Malcolm Arnold

Jock Sinclair is a whiskey-drinking, by-the-bootstraps commanding officer of a peacetime Scottish battalion. Sinclair is a lifetime military man. He expects loyalty and respect from his men. But when Basil Barrow, an educated, by-the-book scion from a traditional military family enters the scene as Sinclair's replacement, the two men become locked in a fierce battle for control of the battalion and the hearts and minds of its men.

An owner of a Victorian-era boot shop finds himself in a battle of wills with his headstrong eldest daughter, who wants to make her own professional and personal decisions in her life.

Reverend Martin Gregory, a recently widowed minister, is torn between his roles of clergyman and father. His zeal for attending to his parishioners leads him to neglect the needs of his own family, until emotions boil over one Christmas.