Director Mike Leigh takes a satirical look at middle-class values in the 70s. Upwardly mobile couple Beverley and Laurence host an informal drinks evening when their neighbour's teenage daughter, Abigail, throws a party. Tensions arise as bored, bitchy housewife Beverley (Alison Steadman) flirts with her new neighbour, patronises his wife, embarasses Abigail's mother Sue and drives her over-stressed husband to the point of no return.