When Bill and Norah Ashby were killed in an air crash, Aunt Bee stayed on at Latchetts, the family country house, to bring up the four children: Simon, Patrick, Ruth and Jane. Soon afterward Patrick disappeared without trace, leaving a suicide note on a lonely clifftop. None had suspected the depth of Patrick's grief but the years passed and the memory of him dimmed. On the eve of Simon's coming of age, a young man turns up at Latchetts. He calls himself Brat Farrar and his physical resemblance to Patrick is so strong that the family solicitor is convinced of his claim as Patrick to share to family inheritance. But Simon denounces him as an imposter!