Violet invites Neville Chamberlain, minister of health, to dine at Downton Abbey as part of her scheme to quash plans for the takeover of the hospital. The evening proves distressing for everyone. Mrs Patmore, Daisy and Andy help Mr Mason to move into Yew Tree Farm and Andy finds an unexpected confidant in Thomas. Mary and Tom go to watch Henry Talbot test drive a new car, but Mary is not convinced she has met her match. Edith has a date with Bertie Pelham in London. Denker is in trouble with Violet and Spratt is forced to help her. Mrs Hughes is finding it difficult to please Mr Carson and Mary senses she has been kept in the dark about a family secret. Beginning in the years leading up to World War I, the drama centers on the Crawley family and their servants. "The sun is rising behind Downton Abbey, a great and splendid house in a great and splendid park. So secure does it appear, that it seems as if the way of life it represents will last for another thousand years. It won't". In season 2, the lives of the Crawley family and the servants who work for them has been changed forever, since the Great War was declared at the end of the last season.