Sonia, Lady Duntan, loves the family seat rather more than she does her husband. The demands of marriage and four small children have conspired to over shadow her sense of self-esteem and the huge, crumbling white elephant of a house represents the rebellious freedom she craves. Archie, however is adamant: their lifestyle must be preserved and the house must go. When Archie - who has got both more and less from his marriage than he bargained for - embarks on an affair with the pneumatic Rosie Bartlett, Sonia is even more determined to thwait his plans. But as her conspiracy widens to include her glamorous but unreliable mother-in-law, a rather sinister Buddhist monk and the urban Mr Hadleigh-Turner from the company Heritage at Risk, things begin to spiral out of control.