It is the long-awaited annual Christmas prize draw for the Shelf Union Social Club. In a locked committee room, with everything in place for a fair draw, the Chairman, the Treasurer and the Organizer await the beleaguered Mr Pessel, a non-committee guest witness, to pick a winning ticket. A witty, humorous moral entanglement begins when Mr Pessel draws a ticket belonging to Mr Brooker, one of the richest men in the area and not a ticket belonging to someone more worthy of winning the first-prize hamper.