Count Your Blessings

In World War II London, Grace Allingham returns home from work at the Red Cross to find French Air Force captain Charles-Edouard de Valhubert awaiting her. Although Charles has come to deliver a message from Grace's beau, officer Hugh Palgrave, upon seeing Grace he is immediately captivated. Against her better judgment, Grace agrees to dine with Charles that evening and is startled when, after dining, he proposes. Claiming they do not know one another, Grace refuses, but when Charles asks to spend time with her, Grace shows him London over the next several days. Won over by Charles's persistent French charm, Grace tells her father, Sir Conrad, she intends to accept Charles' proposal. Three days into their countryside honeymoon, however, Charles reveals that he has been called back to duty and Grace vows to embroider a rug for him while he is gone. Several months later, Grace learns that Charles has been shot down, captured and imprisoned, but Sir Conrad receives assurances that he is uninjured. Soon afterward, Grace has a son whom she names Sigismond. When Sigi is nearly a year old, Grace receives a visit from Charles's uncle, the Duc de St. Cloud, who brings news that Charles has escaped from prison and rejoined his outfit. Relieved, Grace continues work on her embroidered rug. When the war ends, however, Charles does not return home, preferring to continue fighting with French forces in various parts of the world. As the years pass and Charles travels from war to war, Grace grows increasingly disappointed and lonely, despite Hugh's constant visits. When Sigi is eight years old, Charles returns to London where Grace greets him coolly. After ascertaining that Grace has remained faithful to him over the years, Charles is startled to find that his son has become a very proper English boy. Later that evening, Charles is dismayed to find that, because of Sigi's nightmares about the war, Grace allows him to sleep with her. Forced to spend the night in the guest room, Charles declares that before moving the family to Paris, he and Grace will take a much-belated honeymoon, alone in Biarritz. At Grace's insistence, Sigi later joins his parents but, sensitive to the fact that Charles is bothered by his presence, remains anxious and, soon, comes down with the measles. When Grace spends all her time tending him, Charles grows annoyed, then frustrated when he, too, gets the measles. When they arrive in Paris, Grace and Sigi are startled to discover that the Valhuberts are an old, extremely wealthy family. Grace is also disconcerted when Charles receives a number of belated wedding presents, all from women. Charles blithely admits that he knew many women in his worldly travels, but reassures Grace by stating that she is the woman he decided to marry. That evening in their antique-filled bedroom, Charles is horrified to find Grace's homemade rug. Hurt by his reaction, Grace accuses her husband of being spoiled and selfish, which offends Charles. When Nanny interrupts to report that the kitchen staff have given Sigi wine with his dinner, Charles storms out of the house. In exasperation he goes to the apartment of his longtime mistress, Albertine and sulks over Grace's unreasonable and very British expectations. A few days later, a placated Grace attends the ballet with Charles, but is disturbed when Charles acknowledges Albertine in the audience. Unsettled, Grace asks Charles the next morning about Albertine and when he admits he continues to see her occasionally, Grace is outraged. Put off by Grace's response, Charles insists he is merely helping Albertine through a difficult financial time. After Sigi finds Grace crying and Charles departing in anger again, Sigi tells the Duc that he prefers being English to French. The Duc attempts to calm Grace, suggesting that the English take romance too seriously, but Grace sadly states she believes that women are a hobby for Charles. The Duc assures Grace that since she has provided Charles with Sigi, the other women will never seriously matter. Despite Grace's misgivings, the Duc advises her not to try to change Charles, but rather to learn to think like a French woman. The Duc then takes Grace to one of the family's fourteenth century homes, which has been turned into a museum. There, Grace spots Charles and confronts him in a room with another woman. Back at home, Grace rails against Charles, despite his insistence that the woman was his secretary. Certain that he is lying, Grace returns home to London with Sigi and tells Sir Conrad that she wants an immediate divorce. Meanwhile, Sigi learns from a friend that divorce means the children must go back and forth between parents. Feeling that he has contributed to his parents' separation, Sigi decides to disrupt Charles and Grace's attempts to contact one another, which allows the divorce proceedings to continue. When Sigi returns to Paris, Charles guiltily lavishes money and attention on him, hoping to win his son's affections, despite his very British character. Sigi is delighted when he returns to London and receives equal amounts of attention from Grace, who has started dating Hugh. In Paris, the Duc advises Charles that ultimately Sigi is being harmed by going back and forth between his parents and he should consider his son's welfare. When Sigi returns to France, Charles tells him that he has decided that Sigi will remain with Grace permanently. Distressed, Sigi runs away and Charles calls Grace. When she arrives later that afternoon, Sigi has still not been found. While arguing, Charles and Grace realize that Sigi has interfered with their attempts to reach one another and they realize that Sigi has maneuvered to keep them apart so he might enjoy their attentions. The police then contact the Valhuberts to tell them Sigi has been located in a local square. Going to the square, Charles and Grace are startled, then amused to find their son pontificating atop a statue about the injustice of his situation. Realizing they both want to remain together as a very French family, Grace and Charles make up.