Major Ernest Pettigrew (Ret'd) is not interested in the frivolity of the modern world Since his wife's death, he has tried to avoid the constant bother of the village women, his ambitious son and the suburbanisation of the English countryside He prefers to lead a quiet life, upholding the values that people have lived by for generations - respectability, duty and a properly brewed cup of tea But when his brother's death, and a love of Kipling, sparks an unexpected friendship with the widowed village shopkeeper, Mrs Ali, the Major is forced to confront the realities of the twenty first century