Mr. Moffatt owns a chemist's business in suburban Sydney, Australia, where he lives with his wife, Florence, and adult daughter, Naomi. The story begins with a painting that Mr. Moffatt received as security for a debt and comes to believe may be an old master. He embarks on a trip to England to have the painting valued, but on returning to Australia he finds his life has changed in ways that challenge everything he believes in. Published in England and now largely forgotten, Mr. Moffatt was Australia's first modernist novel, notable for its psychological intensity and Cobb's use of a stream-of-consciousness style.