He is Harry Caldecote, a retired librarian "unusually interested in relations between the sexes" and connoisseur of the pubs and wineshops of Primrose Hill. Harry's vision of retirement was one of "mild, relative penury relieved by idleness"; a chance to enjoy the freedoms of age and of the eighties. Instead, Harry feels responsible for everyone he knows, beginning with his henpecked brother Freddie, a has-been fifties poet whose prostate operation and restored sexual prowess have been broadcast throughout the neighborhood by his wife. Then there are his children: Piers, a ne'er-do-well son living on the edge of the law; Bunty, the lesbian daughter of one ex-wife; and Fiona, the alcoholic niece of another. In addition, Bunty's estranged husband wants her back and has enlisted Harry's help. To top it all off, his sister Clare has moved in to keep house with her dead husband's ill-mannered dog in tow. For Harry to sustain his amorous and bibulous adventures in what little remains of his time and privacy is no mean feat.