 Sir Giles Lynchwood has nearly got everything, he s rich, he s powerful (he s a Conservative MP) but two things annoy him. Firstly it s his house. It s a rotting manor house. And the second thing is his wife, Lady Maud Lynchwood. Strong-willed Maud wants to have kids with Giles (to carry on the family line) but Giles wouldn t have sex with Maud if she wasn t the last woman on Earth. He also cheats on Maud with Mrs Forthby. Giles thinks up a plan to get rid of the house. He convinces the Government to build the extension of a motorway (highway) through the grounds and through the house itself. Maud finds out about this and is determined to stay in her house. She dreams of divorcing Giles and with the aid of her foreign handyman, Blott (who has a mysterious past but owes Maud s father a big debt) sets out to stop the motorway and tries to turn the manor into a safari zoo. But Giles and Dundridge, the motorway controller, have other ideas...