Charles Ryder's friendship with the charming, irrepressible Sebastian Flyte and his equally charming, eccentric family begins when they are both Oxford Undergraduates in 1923. Carefree days of drinking champagne and driving in the country soon end however, as Sebastian's health deteriorates. Questions about morality and religion are raised, and the radiant tone gives way to a bleak atmosphere of shattered illusion. This is Evelyn Waugh's most romantic and controversial work.