Welcome to the village of Notwithstanding, where a lady dresses in plus fours and shoots squirrels, a retired general gives up wearing clothes altogether, a spiritualist lives in a cottage with the ghost of her husband, and people think it quite natural to confide in a spider that lives in a potting shed.

Based on de Bernieres' recollections of the village he grew up in, this is a charming depiction of the village of Notwithstanding, whose inhabitants include a lady who wears plus fours and shoots squirrels, a retired general who has given up wearing clothes, a spiritualist who lives with her dead husband, and where nobody thinks it unusual to confide in spiders.