In the quiet village of Great Barking, strange doings are afoot.Up at the Hall the squire, Sir George, seems to have exhausted his wife Angela - leaving her quite unable to contemplate the rigours of hosting the annual village fête in the Hall grounds.Caroline, the doctor's wife, has her time taken up with her three tiny children, but feels that as a newcomer to the village she should offer her own rather more modest garden as the venue for this important local affair. But who is to open it?Will Sir George's elderly mother, now somewhat unpredictable, be asked, as tradition dictates?Or should Sarah Struther, the voluptuous lady potter who prefers to work unencumbered by clothing and who has just been featured in a smart Sunday newspaper, be invited?

The village fête committee decides that a commission to Sarah to fashion a special pot for the fête, to be entitled The Organ (suggesting the need for funds to combat dry rot in the organ loft) may be a better idea, little suspecting that the title may be open to misconstruction.And in the churchyard the tall privet bush has been lovingly fashioned by old Jacob Bean into a shape so curious that coachloads of sightseers start arriving to view it...