Lord Chessingham Harvey-Highmind, the product of a long line of murdering English nobles, wants a son and heir to protect the immense family fortune and continue the unsavoury family traditions. All he has managed so far is a shifty, illegitimate son, Chesney and an ugly duckling of a daughter.
Gorgeous Harriet Uddringham-Sprocket, by the unfortunate circumstance of her husband's death during the coming out ball of Lord Chessingham's daughter, Rebecca 'Bex' Harvey-Highmind, is cast out from village life. Detective Inspector Booking arrives to investigate the suspicious and unusual circumstances of Geoffrey Udderingham-Sprocket's demise and as his investigation proceeds hidden evidence of a forgotten murder is put in his hands. This is not a happy situation as he is a man in no-man's land, cut adrift from the Metropolitan police to rot in this damp little village.
His suspicions regarding the recent death centre on Chesney but Lord Chessingham clearly knows more than he is saying about the previous murder, but what?
As the placard waving crowds take over the village Lord Chessingham takes matters into his own hands by introducing his beloved Purdey to the crowds, this on the day when the woman who bore his rat-like son, Chesney decides to broadcast on live television that he, Lord High and Mighty Chessingham is the father of her moronic off-spring. It is all too much for Lord Chessingham and terror reigns.
The new village vicar has a special connection to Lord Chessingham and the murderous spree of Lord Chessingham catapults his family in an entirely unexpected direction. Wedding bells chime and the village life changes for the better.