Tom Good hits his 40th birthday with a midlife crisis. He talks his wife Barbara into having a go at a self-sufficient lifestyle and promptly resigns from his job and sets about turning their Surbiton home into a mini farm.
Tom and Barbara set about the task of stocking their smallholding with livestock.
Tom manages to buy an old cast iron range from a rag and bone man and leaves Barbara to scrub all the rust off.
Tom and Barbara get themselves a pig much to Margo's disgust. Margo decides that they have gone too far and when the pig escapes into her garden she makes them send it to the abattoir.
Tom uses his skills to build an electricity generator in the cellar which is powered solely by manure.
Tom finds himself in hot water with Barbara when he agrees to take a paying job behind her back.
Tom finds himself laid out with a bad back just as they are set to harvest a years worth of vegetables. Barbara has to try and harvest everything on her own before it rots in the ground.