Sally Applethwaite runs Chuckfarthing House, a Bed and Breakfast establishment on the coast. Sam, her son, is supposed to be looking for a holiday job but is more interested in going sailing with the LCB. The LCB is the lying, cheating bastard who happens to be Sam’s father and who is going to New York with his “new, soon-to-be-wife”. The LCB would like Sam to go and live in New York and is threatening to reveal a secret from Sally’s past. Sally is supported, if one can call it that, by Charlie: “the orgasmic veg man” who is a very good friend who gives very good hugs but who possibly crossed a line last night and isn’t sure what to do about it.

Into this mix come the guests:
There are the newly-weds who don’t make it down to breakfast but who do make off with much of the furniture; Miss Hartley, who would appear to be a thoroughly respectable citizen but for some reason the police would like another word and mysterious Nem, whose straight questions mean that no-one can get away with only talking about the weather.

When the power goes off and it becomes clear that the man who didn’t quite fix the plumbing has not quite fixed the roof and the newly-weds theft of the shower means there’s a flood, everyone is thrown together in the semi-darkness and the past catches up with them all. Is it Physics or Fate that dictates whether the toast lands butter-side up or butter-side down? Will the past always dictate the future?

As their stories are revealed we understand why they behave the way they do. Miss Hartley starts to come to terms with her loss, Charlie confronts the truth he has tried to forget for 40 years, Nem tells the story of her own conception and Sally realises that her son understands more than she thinks.