Harvey Bains (Daniel Hill) is trying to run the Bayview retirement home as a profitable enterprise, imagining himself as a stereotypical Yuppie entrepreneur. When Tom Ballard (Graham Crowden, A Very Peculiar Practice) arrives in the first episode he is glad to get aways from his sons wife (Sandra Payne) with whom he does not get along very well, but he also resents being put out to pasture. He tries to make it easy on his son and grandchildren by assuring them that this is a new adventure and asserting he is happy with the situation. Having been an accountant he has a vivid imagination and after an uneasy start he hooks up with Diana Trent (Stephanie Cole, Open All Hours, Still Open All Hours), a retired war photographer. Soon the two discover their common passion for thwarting Bains' schemes and upsetting his cheerful, dimwitted, pious assistant Jane Edwards (Janine Duvitski, This is Jinsy, Benidorm). Diana's razor sharp wit and cynicism and Tom's knack for the absurd and skill to manipulate others by pretending to be more senile than he actually is are key to the plot of many episodes.