When estate agent Trevor Mountjoy (George Cole) arrives home from the office to be offered a drink by his wife, Mary (Rosalind Ayres), he immediately suspects something's wrong. He's right, Mary's black sheep brother Howard (Peter Bowles) is out of prison after serving two years for embezzlement and Mary wants him to stay with them. Trevor is horrified, he can't stand Howard because he always manages to make him feel inferior, but it seems he has little choice in the matter...