 Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced "bouquet") continually looks for opportunities to climb the social ladder, though she s wedged on a rung just below her sister Violet (whose house has a swimming pool, sauna, and room for a pony) and just above her working class sisters Daisy and Rose. Hyacinth s passion for flawless entertaining unnerves her neighbor Elizabeth, who is often invited to the Bucket home for coffee. Elizabeth s divorced brother Emmet, who also lives next door to the Buckets, tries to avoid Hyacinth because she breaks into song in his presence in the hope he ll cast her in one of his "little theater" musical productions.