Wayne left home because of an argument about pies. Cyril would like to machine gun the Royal family. Rupert and Laetitia Boothe-Brain play yuppie sex games, while deep in suburbia Valerie fails to arouse her husband Martin with a suggestion that he be Michael Douglas and she a virgin. Mrs Bender gets locked out of her house and is criticised by her neighbour for selfishly occupying a whole house in an increasingly fashionable area. And Cyril's girlfriend Shirley wants to start a family, but gets no encouragement from Cyril, who feels that the world should be spared more babies until everyone already here has a job, a place to live and enough to eat.
This disparate cast of characters swim in and out of each others lives against a background of London and its suburbs seamlessly orchestrated by director, Mike leigh.