Timothy Bright doesn't exactly live up to his name. He is the not-very acute scion of a successful family - that is, until Timothy has his funds cut off. This sad turn of affairs gives him the desire, although unfortunately not the brains, to get rich on his own. In this devil-may-care way, Tom Sharpe subjects his poor hero to run-ins with the Chief Constable, his wife, her alluring and jealous lesbian lover - and Miss Marjorie Midden. All converge at the rambling manor house Middenhall - nicknamed "The Midden" - in a frenetic finale with, among other things, policemen disguised as sheep and a mad aunt in a silver cat suit.