Barriers

Six months before his 18th birthday, Billy Stanyon's mother and father die in a sailing accident. They leave him a flute, some letters, and the knowledge that they were not his biological parents.

Billy visits his birth mother's old house in London, where he encounters fugitives from an anti-apartheid demonstration.

Billy meets the mysterious Vincent Whitaker, who accompanies him to Munich where an ex-client of Whitaker's takes them to Lake Chiemsee. Frau Gruber tells Billy his mother was killed whilst crossing the Hungarian border, along with her own son. But is she telling the truth?

Now in his final term, Billy learns his birth father, Jerry Toff, defected to Britain in 1955 and married, then later divorced, a glass heiress. Along with his best mate Spike and other classmates, he has a run-in with a local motorcycle gang.

An unannounced visit to his father's ex-wife Charlotte in Scotland reveals that Billy has an older half-sister named Pamela. He learns little other than that his father and Charlotte met when he worked as a stable lad on her father's estate.

Billy seeks help to pursue his goal of becoming a professional flautist. Meanwhile, a runaway family take refuge in his seaside cottage.