Derek Yates is besieged with telephone calls enquiring whether his business partner, Simon Harrap, has reappeared in their London office yet. Simon has not been heard of since he left a conference in the South of France three days ago. One of the callers is Simon's housekeeper Madeline, who has taken care of his daughter Samantha, now 13, since his wife died.
One of those most anxious about Simon's absence is his mother-in-law Nell - she is furious that Simon has not reappeared in time to take Samantha to the theatre as he had promised. Simon arrives unannounced in the office that morning and explains that he could not resist an invitation from an attractive girl, Gillian, to spend a few days in France after the conference. Nell tells Simon that Samantha was bitterly disappointed to miss the promised theatre trip. Simon tries to pretend to Samantha that he was delayed in France by business, but Samantha is not surprised when she finds out that in fact he was with a girlfriend.
Both Nell and Samantha want Simon to re-marry and decide to help him find a wife. Simon looks through his list of old girlfriends in the hope that this may happen. Samantha says she especially likes Kim and asks Nell to bring them together again.
Nell brings Kim to the office so she can help with an advertising promotion. Simon invites Kim to the house to talk about their past relationship and they both agree that they were not ready for a serious relationship so soon after the death of Simon's wife Ruth.
Simon says he is now ready for committing to a relationship but Kim announces that she is already engaged to be married next month. Simon then tells Samantha that he is ruling out past girlfriends, and throws the list in the bin. But when Samantha is out of the room he retrieves it.
Whilst Derek's family is away he plans a secret date with a passionate woman called Glenda, whom Simon knows to have a reputation. He tries to stop Derek from meeting her in an attempt to save his marriage. But Derek ignores him and goes on the date a happy, carefree man.
The next day Simon brings Samantha to the office to find Derek laid out on his desk with his trousers missing. Simon fears that Derek may have done something to ruin his marriage but Derek cannot remember anything and he too is worried about his marriage.
Then a man called Mr Sharma returns to the office with Derek's trousers to explain that whilst Derek was out with Glenda at his restaurant, he had got rather drunk and leapt up to phone his wife. Glenda, annoyed by the love he had shown for his wife, had thrown his dinner over him. Shocked, Derek had leapt up and knocked himself out on a lamp. Mr Sharma had brought him to the office and washed his trousers.
Simon and Samantha receive a visit from Simon's mother-in-law Nell who is lonely and wants more to do. She offers to help around the office but only ends up getting on Simon's and Derek's nerves. She then decides to look after Samantha at home where she is better appreciated.
After a week, Maddie the housekeeper announces that she will be away for another week and Nell is delighted that she will be able to spend more time at home with Samantha. Simon is only pleased that Nell has a course in the evenings for word-processing. Derek, however, discovers that her course is so she can be of more use in the office.
Samantha is misled by an advertising manager, Mr Keating, into believing that she could be the next Whoppa Bar Sunshine Girl. All she has to do is sing her own song promoting the bar.Simon is not convinced about the advert and doesn't want Samantha to do it. He finds out that Mr Keating has in fact offered the account to many people and let them all down. He is cheating people in order to get their ideas.
Simon confronts Mr Keating and explains that no other agencies will deal with him anymore because of his methods.In order to cheer Samantha up after this disappointment, Simon gives her permission to get her ears pierced. She confesses she's already had them done earlier in the day without his permission.
Simon is concerned about the amount of homework Samantha seems to be getting, so he visits her teacher to find out why. Her teacher explains that she has to do catch-up work because of her Wednesday afternoons off to see the Child Psychiatrist. Simon realises that Samantha is taking the afternoon off for a reason of her own and decides to find out what. When he asks a friend of hers she tells him Samantha is in love with someone.
He finds out that it is a famous actor who is playing Hamlet at the London Theatre. Simon goes along to find Samantha there. She is crying because the actor has just announced his engagement to the lady who plays Ophelia. Although Simon can understand her disappointment, he tells her she must start going to school.