In Paris in 1916, writer Marcel Proust becomes fascinated by a string quartet's viola player, who is a wounded serviceman home from the front.

Alan Bennett recounts a bittersweet episode in the life of the writer Marcel Proust. In 1916, while the war rages on the battlefields of France, Proust lives a nocturnal, closeted life in his Paris apartment, obsessively working on his writing. After venturing outside to visit a concert, he becomes fascinated by a string quartet's viola player, who is a wounded serviceman home from the front.