Thrush Green is buzzing with gossip, which everyone is keen to share with two ex-schoolteachers, who have returned to visit their friends in the village. The old schoolhouse has just been sold, and the villagers are eager to welcome the new owners, the Lesters. Alan Lester seems to be perfectly pleasant, but rumours soon circulate about his wife, Margaret. Equal cause for speculation is the odd behaviour of long-standing resident Bertha Lovelock. And what of farmer Percy Hodge? Can he really be contemplating marriage to the rather wayward Doreen Lilly?