It is 1938 & the prospect of war hangs over every London inhabitant. But the city doesnt stop. Everywhere people continue to work drink fall in love fight & struggle to get on in life. At the lodging-house at No.10 Dulcimer Street Kennington the buttoned-up clerk Mr. Josser returns home with the clock he has received as a retirement gift. The other residents include faded actress Connie; tinned food-loving Mr. Puddy; widowed landlady Mrs. Vizzard (whose head is turned by her new lodger a self-styled Professor of Spiritualism); & flashy young mechanic Percy Boon whose foray into stolen cars descends into something much much worse.