What with little Stephen doing his O-levels and Molly and Harold up night after night, Dad has ended up in a corporation home. There's a choice of puddings and the grounds are tip-top, but Dad simply gazes at the outside wall. What's on the other side of it, the nice nurse, knows, but he's not telling.

Les is an old-fashioned boy but very handy about the house: Hoovering, ironing ... he has all that at his fingertips. His mother wants him to make his mark in the world, and he does make his mark but not where she had hoped.