Welcome to Batch Magna, a place where anything might happen. And often does...
When the old squire of Batch Magna died, the life of distant relative Humphrey, an amiable, overweight short-order cook from the Bronx, turned into a movie. Now, as Sir Humphrey, he has acquired not only a new title but also a new love: the Honourable Clementine Wroxley. He and Clem plan to marry, settle into Batch Hall and begin a new life together.
Their finances at this early stage rest on the estate's shooting and fishing, stepping stones to a more secure future. But one day a cold wind from beyond their valley visits Batch Magna in the shape of badger baiters discovered in Cutterbach Wood. They are routed, but their defeat entails such disaster that Humphrey and Clem are driven to the wall, left with no way out but to sell the estate, and their future along with it.
