Wendy Vickery is Florence, a vain woman who cannot face ageing and happily betrays her husband with a man the same age as her son, Nicky, played by Stuart Quinn. Nicky was originally played by Coward himself in 1924. This is a confused young man who tries to compensate for his mother's failure to love him by false cheeriness. His true despair cannot be hidden from those close to him for long.