What happens when the people to whom you have dedicated your best efforts, whom you considered a model of excellence, reveal themselves to be unworthy cowards, and their standards of value as scoundrels? These are the questions that are about to unfold before the eyes of Stevens, who for thirty years has served as butler to Lord Darlington. The year is 1956 and a few things have changed in Stevens' routine existence: the Second World War is beginning to be left behind, Lord Darlington has died, and the new owner of Darlington Hall, an American, lends his butler the family car to take a vacation. Stevens sets out on a trip (his first trip of his!) to meet Mrs. Benn, the house's former housekeeper, perhaps his best friend in the world. At the same time that his life is revealed to him as a succession of vicarious experiences, Stevens begins to understand the dark intrigues that were brewing at Darlington Hall. But his understanding does not seem willing to assume responsibilities without first interposing a subtle forest of excuses and justifications.