Fleeing from her failed marriage, Rose Pelham seeks sanctuary in Peking, China, with her cousins, Anastasia and Antony Lydiard. The romantic attentions of Captain Hargreaves are a welcome distraction from her woes, but in the society of Anglicised 1920's Peking, it is hard for such relationships not to draw notice and create scandal.
A long trek to the 'Mountain of a Hundred Flowers' offers a chance to escape prying eyes, but Rose's intellectual cousins cannot stop Captain Hargreaves from joining them, along with the most disagreeable Roy Hellier. The trip is fraught with peril, as the 'T'ao-Pings' or 'masterless soldiers' – cut loose from the feudal Chinese armies – are roaming the country, terrorising villagers and leaving turmoil in their wake. Faced with the realities of the dangerous journey, the five become close, and relationships shift and change under the pressure.
But back in the reality of society, it is time for Rose to make some very hard choices. Should she push for a divorce, and marry the man she truly loves, at the cost of being socially ostracised? Or should she make amends, and try to recover the lost love of her cold husband?

In Four-Part Setting, first published in 1939, Anne Briggs expertly tells a tale of love, loss, and tangled loyalties.