In one of London's outer suburbs lived a shabby, insignificant schoolteacher with a repulsive, drunken wife. Experimenting with his secret invention was his only escape - until his headmaster's pacifist daughter brought sex and idealism into his life.

Could the sexual awakening of this shy, retiring man have inspired him to create the chaos that now reigned throughout London? Was it possible that he was the "Peacemaker" - that curious lunatic who wrote to The Times threatening to spread confusion until there was total disarmament?