Another Time, Another Place

In London, 1945, BBC radio correspondent Mark Trevor broadcasts to his listeners the details surrounding the disarmament of an unexploded German V-2 rocket. He is soon joined in the field by Sara Scott, a foreign correspondent for The New York Standard . The two journalists have been lovers for three weeks, and although Sara declares her undying love for him, Mark is hesitant to state his true affections for her. Later, in her hotel room, Mark tells Sara how he grew up in the small English village of St. Giles and joined the BBC prior to the outbreak of World War II, but Sara points out that eleven years are missing from his life story. After Mark finally professes his love, Sara confesses that she is engaged to her boss, American newspaper publisher Carter Reynolds. Before she can break her engagement, however, Mark admits that he is married. Carter then arrives in London on his way to Paris, and quickly recognizes the sudden alienation of Sara's affections. He offers to take her with him to Paris or back to New York, but the heartbroken Sara insists on staying in London until she can settle her personal life. Following the German army's surrender in Italy, Mark is transferred to Paris, but before he leaves, he and Sara have one final meeting at which they proclaim their eternal love to each other. The next morning, Carter rushes to be with Sara before the BBC announces Mark's death, as he was just killed in an airplane crash. Sara then suffers a nervous breakdown and is institutionalized in a nursing home for six weeks. With the war now over, Carter offers to send Sara home on an ocean cruise following her convalescence, but she decides takes a train to St. Giles before setting sail for America. Arriving in the seaside town, Sara is unable to find any accommodations, as the post-war surge in tourism has filled all the local inns, but she meets Mark's young son Brian by chance and is soon invited to dinner by her dead lover's unsuspecting widow Kay. Though Kay offers her lodgings for the night, the grief-stricken Sara cannot stand being surrounded by Mark's things and bolts from the home. The next morning, Sara is found on the docks unconscious and is carried back to Kay's house, where she is ordered to rest by the local physician. Kay then convinces Sara to stay on in St. Giles and write a book about Mark, still unaware that Sara was her husband's mistress. Later, Sara is shocked to see Alan Thompson, Mark's childhood friend and co-worker, who somehow survived the plane crash that took her lover's life. Though he promises to keep her secret, Alan asks Sara to leave St. Giles before Kay learns the truth about her relationship with Mark. Meanwhile, back in New York, Carter is informed by Dr. Aldridge, Sara's physician at the nursing home, of her current whereabouts, and he rushes to St. Giles in hopes of bringing Sara home. Upon their first meeting, Carter and Alan quickly realize that they are in similar positions, as they both love women who are in love with the same dead man. Following an evening at the cinema, Kay questions Alan about her husband's final weeks, and she soon surmises that Mark was having an affair. Learning this, Sara confesses all to Kay, but tells the widow that Mark had ended their affair and was planning to return to his wife and child. The next morning, Kay, relieved, rushes to the train station to say goodbye to a thankful Sara, who then promises to send Brian a photograph from the top of the Empire State building.