Wychwood was a charming and enthusiastically organised village. The women, with their pine-fitted kitchens and glowing Agas, ran everything with tireless efficiency, from the W.I. meetings (Dress a Wooden Spoon, and How to Decorate and Egg) to Brasso-ing church lectern and making mock crab sandwiches for the Christmas Bazaar. One hardly expected a liason to flourish in such exemplary surroundings.

          But when Tessa Brierley discovered that her husband was having an affair with Maddy Storr, she was doubly perturbed – for Maddy was not only the life and soul of the village and President of the W.I., but was also her very best friend, a friend whom Tessa did not want to lose.

          Stoically, resourcefully, observed by a community celebrating crises, tragedies, and local festivities in its own eccentric Wychwood way, Tessa began to plan how she woul keep both her husband and her friend.