The first series, Ben, a dentist, and Susan, the worst cook in the world, are certainly loving, caring parents, they just have a problem showing it. Ben seems to be confused as to how much time and money his kids demand from him. Susan has to juggle motherhood, a career and a husband and does not have enough time to manage everything including improving her cooking skills. Nick is always working on his next hair-brained scheme to keep him amused. Janey, like any normal teenage daughter feels that her parents are seriously embarrassing whilst Michael keeps his head in his books to get away from the noise.
Bertie is back in New York and enamoured of portrait painter Gwladys Pendlebury but Aunt Agatha is not enamoured of the painting of her Bertie commissioned and she is even more annoyed when her wayward twin sons, charged to Bertie's care before being shipped off for colonial posts, give him the slip to pursue a cabaret singer. Tuppy Glossop arrives to sell his family recipe for cock-a-leekie to soup magnate Slingsby to finance his nuptials to Elizabeth but slimy ad man Lucius Pim steals Gwladys from Bertie and makes Aunt Agatha the unwitting face of Slingsby's soups on every billboard in New York.
Fleeing from the twin horrors of prospective marriage and the baleful Aunt Agatha, Bertie sails to New York with Jeeves, where he hopes to lie low but instead he is charged with minding the ultra-shy mother's boy Wilmot, son of Lady Malvern, and showing him the high life. Oddly enough Wilmot takes only too well to the night-spots of Manhattan, wearing Bertie out in the process. Tuppy Glossop also arrives, to talk about car exportation with wealthy businessman Mr. Stoker. Unfortunately Tupper's business plan is nowhere near as lofty as it should be.
Romantic entanglements are complicated by a unique silver cow creamer that is desired by both Bertie's Uncle Thomas and his rival, Judge Sir Watkyn Bassett. Sir Watkyn purchases the creamer by telling the shopkeeper, falsely, that Thomas had sent him. Bertie's Aunt Dahlia and friend "Stiffy" Byng both want him to steal the creamer for different reasons, but Judge Sir Watkyn has already sentenced him once (for stealing a bobby's helmet) and he doesn't want to go to jail.
The story concerns the Waterbury family who move to "Three Chimneys", a house near the railway after the father, who works at the Foreign office, is imprisoned as a result of being falsely accused of selling state secrets to the Russians. The three children, Roberta (Bobbie), Peter and Phyllis, find amusement in watching the trains on the nearby railway line and waving to the passengers. They become friendly with Albert Perks, the station porter, and with the Old Gentleman who regularly takes the 9:15 down train. He is eventually able to help prove their father's innocence, and the family is reunited.The family also take care of the Russian exile, Mr Szczepansky,who came to England looking for his family (later located) and Jim, the grandson of the Old Gentleman,who suffers a broken leg in a tunnel.
The central character is Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope. Who is obsessive about her work and driven by her own demons. If she's lonely she doesn't show it and faces the world with caustic wit, guile and courage. Her trusted and long suffering colleague is Sergeant Joe Ashworth. Together they approach every new case with unparalleled gusto and professionalism.
Detective Inspector John Rebus is a hard drinking, unkempt, womanizing police officer whose job is his whole life. He is the most senior and most experienced DI at his station. He has a mysterious past that his partner DS Siobhan Clarke learns about from time to time through various comments Rebus makes. She is a young woman who wants to succeed, but does not have much of a personal life. She feels being paired with Rebus jeopardizes her career because of his unorthodox methods, but she is also fascinated by the man and is extremely loyal. DI Rebus' boss is Chief Superintendent Templar, a woman who was one of Rebus' lovers in a distant past. Their relationship is now one where they barely tolerate each other.