A colonial administrator's act of cowardice gets him sent home from the East, but he seems oblivious to the contempt with which he is viewed. Surely his friendly, companionable relationship with his wife seems to him quite unchanged.
Lord Mountdrago, the foreign minister, humiliates a political rival in parliament for fun after which the man begins haunting his dreams. As the line between dreams and reality blurs, Mountdrago's guilt starts driving him insane.