Halvard Solness is a middle-aged architect whose ruthlessness in his business makes him a hardened individual. Affected by his ambitions are his wife and his colleagues, until a young woman shows up asking for a promised kingdom.

Three long-married couples in northern England discover that their marriages are in fact invalid, causing much re-evaluation and chaos. This was the fourth television film version made by the BBC of this comedy by J. B. Priestley. It featured several actors repeating their rôles from the earlier 1951 version including Frank Pettingell, Helena Pickard and Eileen Beldon.