Martin Bryce (Richard Briers) is a committee man. He has numerous schemes and committees organized around the neighborhood. He is so obsessive about every detail of everything he does, he is driving his long-suffering wife, Anne (Dame Penelope Wilton), slowly crazy. Then the new neighbor Paul Ryman (Peter Egan) arrives. He has a more worldly outlook than those who live under Martin's organizational spell. There is an immediate clash of personalities because Martin treats everything so seriously, but to Paul, life is for enjoying and not to be taken so seriously.