John Lewis, Peter Sellers, is a poorly paid librarian and occasional drama critic whose affections swing between the glamorous Liz and his long-suffering wife, Jean. When a better-paid position opens, he is hesitant to apply, but Jean pressure him to try for it, nudging him toward a riskier life than he planned. He soon meets Elizabeth Gruffydd-Williams, known as Liz, Mai Zetterling, a designer connected to the local am-dram scene and wife of a local councillor. Liz offers to intercede with her husband to help Lewis land the job, and she makes it clear that she’s attracted to him. The attraction grows, and the affair begins — though it remains unconsummated — drawing Lewis into a fraught web of desire, pride, and temptation.
In a bid to keep the budding affair secret, Liz persuades Lewis to leave the theatre’s new production early that evening for an assignation. He goes along, but to complicate matters, he submits a bogus review to the local newspaper. The next morning, the town wakes to shocking news: the theatre burned down shortly after the play began. Jean learns of the affair and retaliates by rekindling an old flame of her own, Gareth L. Probert, Richard Attenborough, a self-important literary figure and dramatist who wrote the ill-fated play. The discovery fractures Lewis’s social circle, and even his best friend is drawn into the fallout; Ieuan Jenkins, Kenneth Griffith, a colleague who had a part in the production, pulls away from him.
As the drama unfolds, Lewis faces a turning point when the opportunity for a higher salary arises. He realises that Liz’s influence could tighten its grip on him if he accepts the new job, and that the lure of power comes with a heavy price. The realization forces him to reassess what he wants from life and from his relationships. He eventually chooses to sever the affair and takes a job as a mobile librarian, hoping to put distance between himself and predatory temptations. Jean, not sure if he can truly resist, accompanies him, keeping a watchful eye as they navigate an uncertain future together.
The story unfolds with a measured, observant tone, focusing on the consequences of choices in a small world where ambition, loyalty, and romance collide. It tracks the quiet, incremental shifts in trust and the toll of temptation on two couples and the wider circle around them, painting a portrait of ordinary lives pressed by extraordinary temptations. The result is a thoughtful examination of responsibility, desire, and the price of trying to do right when the heart pulls in another direction.
