A myriad of outrageous calamities befalls an eccentric English clan with more than a few skeletons in its closets when the family's patriarch dies an unexpected death.

The newly appointed Minister for Administrative Affairs, the Rt Hon. Jim Hacker MP, finds even the corridors of power congested by the machinations of his Permanent Secretary Sir Humphrey and his Civil Service cohorts.

A stoner and his dealer are forced to go on the run from the police after the pothead witnesses a cop commit a murder.