Miss Read heard about the sale of Tyler's Row from Mrs Pringle - and before long Fairacre was alive with rumours. Why were the present owners selling? Was it true that a football pools winner was about to buy it? Had Tyler's Row been condemned - or was it to be restored? All speculation ends when Peter and Diana Hale arrive in Fairacre to view Tyler's Row, with plans to create their own rural haven. However, the Hales soon discover that Fairacre is no Utopia, but a normal English village, with all the usual ups and downs...