On the far side of middle age, Archie Rice (Sir Laurence Olivier) lives in a British seaside resort with his father, retired successful vaudevillian Billy Rice (Roger Livesey), second wife Phoebe Rice (Brenda de Banzie), and doting son Frank Rice (Sir Alan Bates). Following in retired Billy's footsteps, Archie is a song-and-dance music hall headliner, with Frank supporting his dad as his shows' stage manager. The waning popularity of Archie's type of shows, a dying form of entertainment, is not helped by Archie's stale second rate material, which brings in small unappreciative crowds. Archie clings to his long-held lifestyle, including heavy drinking and chronic infidelity, of which Phoebe is aware. What Archie has not told his offspring is that Phoebe was his mistress while he was still married to their now deceased mother. His want to be a music hall headliner is despite his financial problems, he an undischarged bankrupt who now signs Phoebe's name to everything. Phoebe wants them to escape this life to something more stable, such as the offer from her relations to manage a hotel in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, while Archie, always one step ahead of his creditors for his current show, wants to mount another for the winter season. Long-suffering Phoebe often drowns her sorrows with booze. One person in their immediate family who has somewhat escaped their life is Archie's daughter, Jean Rice (Dame Joan Plowright), an art school teacher in London, she who is still trying to find her place in the world. Her pre-engagement boyfriend Graham (Daniel Massey) wants her to move to Africa with him for a job, which she is reluctant to do if only because of not yet being ready to leave her dysfunctional family behind, they who she still feels to need to watch over. Unlike Archie, Jean is more concerned about the fact that her brother Mick Rice (Albert Finney) has just been shipped overseas to fight in the Suez Crisis. Archie's steps in his determination to mount that new show, seemingly at any cost, may break the family apart once and for all.