 Lucinda has to live with, and try to bear, her aged Aunt Emerald. But Emerald s tastes for salmon and costly drinks are hard to sustain on Lucinda s pittance from Mr. Swyvoski s antique shop; so they have to take lodgers. Mr. Trace asks only to be left in peaceful enjoyment of his role being a failure, but bold Phelim O Donnell, Irishman and drunk virtuoso, is a very different kettle of poteen, and his arrival marks the beginning of a life which is fuller (particularly in the alcoholic sense) for the bewildered Lucinda.