Widower Simon Harrap runs Eyecatchers, an advertising agency, with business partner Derek Yates and, helped by daffy Scots housekeeper Maddie, is raising his 13-year-old daughter Samantha. His mother-in-law Nell is critical of his womanising after he returns from Monte Carlo with the leggy Gillian and tells him he should consider remarrying for Samantha's sake. Whilst not going quite that far, Simon does turn down a further evening with Gillian to be home in time to sample the sausage rolls his daughter has made him.

Ever anxious to get Simon married off, Nell, armed with a list of his old girlfriends, reacquaints him with Kim Tracy, whom he saw shortly after his wife Ruth died. Kim comes to Simon's flat but explains that she's betrothed to another.

Simon tries in vain to dissuade Derek from seeing Glenda, a woman with a reputation, behind his wife's back. The next day, Simon arrives to find Derek sans trousers and with no memory of the night before. All is revealed, however, when Mr Sharma, to whose Indian restaurant Derek went with Glenda, arrives

With time on her hands, Nell decides she would like to help out at Eyecatchers but only succeeds in getting on Simon's and Derk's nerves so, when Maddie goes on holiday, Simon is delighted that Nell spends her days at home, looking after Samantha.

Slimy ad manager Keating persuades Samantha that she could be the Whoppa Bar Sunshine girl if she sings for him but Simon discovers that he has made this promise to others, purely to steal their ideas and ensures that Keating is barred by other agencies.

Simon discovers that Samantha has been missing Wednesday afternoons from school, telling the teacher that she's seeing a psychiatrist. In fact, she is going to matinées of Hamlet, because she has a crush on the lead actor and is mortified when she finds out that he is getting married.