The fifth book in Powell's epic sequence opens as several others have done, with some reminiscence. Presumably during the Second World War our narrator Nick Jenkins considers the bombed out remains of a pub he once frequented, with a group of friends. However Nick's memories do not yet take us to the war years, as he so often does, Powell plays around a little with time here. Returning to the late 1920's early 1930's Jenkins remembers the time when he first knew some musician acquaintances who he met in company with artists Barnby and Deacon who we first encountered in A Buyer's Market. These remembered meetings of Jenkins, with Maclintick, Gossage, Carolo, Moreland and some others take place at this old pub; The Mortimer from where they once or twice decamped to the restaurant named in the title. The significance of these meetings is naturally returned to later in the novel, as one conversation in particular that took place at this time is destined to resonate strongly years later. This section of the novel brings us up to date in a sense, as Nick marries Isobel, an event that was imminent at the end of At Lady Molly's.