When Ellen Jamieson breaks up with her long-standing boyfriend, she plans to go travelling. But first she agrees to house-sit for her parents, who are trying to find a buyer for their idyllic cottage in the Cotswold village of Oddlode. The village is full of quaint and eccentric characters, both blue-blooded and below the salt, and Ellen is the subject of much speculation. Under the wing of Ophelia ('Touchy Pheely') Gently, an impoverished local sculptor, Ellen goes to an Auction of Promises village