 Laura, like many women of her class at the time, goes to a nearby town every Thursday for shopping and to the cinema for a matinée.Returning from one such excursion to Milford, while waiting in the railway station's refreshment room, she is helped by another passenger, who solicitously removes a piece of grit from her eye.The man is Alec Harvey, an idealistic general practitioner who also works one day a week as a consultant at the local hospital.