Pongo Twistleton is in a state of financial embarrassment and it's not for the first time. Uncle Fred, meanwhile, has been asked by Lord Emsworth of Blandings to foil a plot to relieve him of the Empress, his much-adored prize pig. Along with Polly Pott (daughter of dear old Mustard), they form a deputation to Blandings Castle, a party of innocent imposters bent on doing "a bit of good to two loving hearts". For Uncle Fred himself admits, "there are no limits, literally none, to what I can accomplish in the springtime"