Elizabeth Mapp-Flint seeks to regain her status as the leader of Tilling society by holding a New Year's Eve party to which Lucia brings two unexpected and not entirely welcome guests, causing embarrassment, if not chaos. Elizabeth redoubles her social offensive by introducing an alternative to Tilling's traditional games of bridge, brought back from India many years before by her husband, Major Benjy.
Such a state of affairs cannot be allowed to continue, as Lucia offers a different form of entertainment, and battle between these two formidable hostesses commences.
The story is written in sincere tribute to the originals by E.F.Benson, and interpreted in the TV series by Geraldine McEwan and Prunella Scales as Lucia and Mapp respectively.