A new excitement comes to the village of Thrush Green when the corner house on the green is taken by Harold Shoosmith, a distinguished bachelor who has chosen the village for his retirement. Harold is soon enmeshed in village politics and becomes involved in the private lives of his neighbors as well. His presence has a dramatic effect on Dimity Dean and Ella Bembridge and is the cause of a serious misunderstanding between the two friends. And the village's widowed rector finds in Harold a new friend who gives him the courage to end his lonely state.
