It is 1935 and in an English cathedral city Lucy Amarest (Julia Watson), a genial widow is letting out rooms to eke out her finances and to make her less lonely.  Mrs Amarest is introducing her newest lodger to the house.  Miss May Berenger (Catherine Cusack) is hoping to find a position as she too has fallen on hard times.  1934 is in the middle of the Great Depression when everyone’s savings took a knock.  Miss Berenger is of a nervous disposition and anxious.  She has lost her only companion a wire-haired fox terrier called Pip. What she has now and values with emotion is a gift from a deceased friend, a large piece of amber the size of a grapefruit and the shape of a crystal.

There is another lodger, Mrs Agatha Payne (Abigail Thaw) also widowed, dressed in an old fashioned black frock with lace and a few cheap but inconspicuous necklaces.  As Lucy Amarest talks to her new guest Miss Berenger, sitting in her own room, at the back of the three rooms in one set, is the sinister figure of Mrs Payne.  Juliette Demoulin’s set serves as Mrs Amarest’s communal room, at the rear Mrs Payne’s room and to the right, Miss Berenger’s single bed.  All is low lit atmosphere by Mark Dymock.  They all agree on the beauty of Mrs Amarest’s candle lit surprise Christmas tree.

Mrs Amarest hasn’t heard from her son for too many years and misses him terribly. She has however been told by her cousin that he will leave her £1,000 a year, an absolute fortune in 1935 and worth about £92,000 today.  Finding out the amount, has Mrs Payne hoping that Mrs Amarest will give her some of it.  This sets up Mrs Payne’s envious and avaricious character with some admirable facial acting by Abigail Thaw, daughter of Inspector Morse’s John Thaw.  Mrs Payne seems permanently to have an unpleasant smell under her nose.