This is a very black comedy indeed – but it is also a story of innocence, redemption and, above all, love.
The setting is England in 1955. Nigel Dodd is 23. Still living at his parents' home, he is heir to the family business, a thriving estate agency. Unknown to Nigel, his father is embroiled in an ambitious and crooked land deal involving corrupt politicians at the County Council.
Brenda Vale is 26, a nurse, highly intelligent and extremely pretty, with a newly acquired German girlfriend named Grete. One of Brenda's unrealized ambitions is to "find and marry some pliable man with money". Circumstances bring her into the Dodd household; Grete's permission to stay in the UK unexpectedly runs out, and suddenly Brenda is in need of hard cash and plenty of it.
Nigel could hardly be more pliable. Nor could he be more infatuated. The future looks black for him and bright for Brenda and Grete: but looks can be deceptive, and when the land deal goes horribly wrong Brenda must use all her wiles to keep her scheme on track.