The novel opens on a sweltering summer day in 1935 at the Tallis family & #8217;s mansion in the Surrey countryside. Thirteen-year-old Briony has written a play in honor of the visit of her adored older brother Leon; other guests include her three young cousins -- refugees from their parent & #8217;s marital breakup -- Leon & #8217;s friend Paul Marshall, the manufacturer of a chocolate bar called & #8220;Amo & #8221; that soldiers will be able to carry into war, and Robbie Turner, the son of the family charlady whose brilliantly successful college career has been funded by Mr. Tallis. Jack Tallis is absent from the gathering; he spends most of his time in London at the War Ministry and with his mistress. His wife Emily is a semi-invalid, nursing chronic migraine headaches. Their elder daughter Cecilia is also present; she has just graduated from Cambridge and is at home for the summer, restless and yearning for her life to really begin. Rehearsals for Briony & #8217;s play aren & #8217;t going well; her cousin Lola has stolen the starring role, the twin boys can & #8217;t speak the lines properly, and Briony suddenly realizes that her destiny is to be a novelist, not a dramatist.In the midst of the long hot afternoon, Briony happens to be watching from a window when Cecilia strips off her clothes and plunges into the fountain on the lawn as Robbie looks on. Later that evening, Briony thinks she sees Robbie attacking Cecilia in the library, she reads a note mea