In 1934, Winston Churchill is deep in his wilderness years, and struggling to complete his biography of his ancestor the John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, which he hopes will revive his fortunes. Winston is chided by his wife Clemmie for their lack of money and is aware that as a 'man of destiny' his moment may have passed. At the same time he struggles in the British House of Commons as a backbencher to get a hearing for his concerns about German re-armament under Adolf Hitler and the appeasement.