The Lost Glen vividly portrays a clash of cultures and personalities against a background of a landscape in visible decay. The cultural collision and its effects are explored through Ewan, recently returned from university in disgrace, and a retired English colonel staying at the village hotel. The Colonel is an aggressive bully, although his young niece behaves with sensitivity and integrity. The antipathy between the two main protagonists leads to a physical struggle that is more a symbolic drama than a novel of realism.