After being offered a 100,000 pound advance to write a book on the twentieth century, a historian/writer struggling with depression takes to London to begin this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

In World War I era Britain, an Oxford University dean tells his colleague about the arm of war that stretched to his small English town and changed the life of the community stonemason. When the stonemason shares his idea for bringing down German planes, he doesn't expect to be so devastated by the death he causes.

A current university professor and former soldier sits serenely in his office until two students, who are actually his former army colleagues, enter for essay help. The three boys discuss a possible essay topic about a real attack that involved of the army lieutenants of their time.

Upon hearing about an upcoming wedding, a former American soldier reminisces about the time he met a young girl who gave him the recourse to survive the war.

A Confederate officer begrudgingly fights in the American Civil War until his disastrous last battle helps seal the fate of the war for good. After the war, he constantly repents for his critical mistakes until, decades later, he comes to a shocking revelation about the fateful battle.

In England during World War II, a literary critic turned war correspondent finds himself face to face with his own mortality on an air raid mission.

An Australian soldier spends several seasons stationed in a British Imperialist colony in Asia where he interacts with the city’s residents and comes to terms with the evils of imperialism.

An American writer travels to Sophia where he meets a famous poetess. He falls in love with her and her attitude.

A rambunctious teenager with an inquisitive mind causes much grief for all his New England family and neighbors when he visits them in the summer of 1914, on the eve of World War I.

During his leave, an American World War II soldier visits the family of one of his fellow British soldiers. While he expects a warm and doting environment, he is instead greeted by a circumspectly cold group of British people.