Celia - housewife, mother and wonderful cook - lives in Bedford Park, London, where the major worries are dailies, private schooling and the misplaced zeal of Neighbourhood Watch vigilantes, and is celebrating her fortieth birthday. The comfy armpit of the English bourgeoisie never felt snuggler. But the cosy house of cards flops rapidly, as friends and a sister turn edgy and fickle, a long-term admirer turns into a crude jester, and Celia spies her husband embracing a ghastly woman in a 'Come Dancing' frock.