The rector, Peter, his wife Caroline and their twins move to Africa for a year to run a mission. The inhabitants of Turnham Malpas, whose lives revolve around the church and this family, are bereft. They don't immediately take to the woman locum, Anna, who has modern ideas — but she does fill the church with parishioners determined to keep an eye on her. And then she brings Paddy, a down-and-out petty thief into their midst, sparking conflict within the community.

The Women's Institute comes up with the idea of raising funds for Peter's African Mission. Peter keeps in touch with the people of Turnham Malpas by e-mail. When a message arrives to tell them that the twins have been kidnapped, they are devastated and are even more determined to raise a substantial sum for Peter's Mission.

A Carleton Hobbs Award Winner , Carole Boyd has worked extensively in radio drama and features and is famously known as Lynda Snell in The Archers . In 1998 she won an APA Audio Award for The Land Girls and British Talkie Award for The Small Things . In 2001 she won an SWPA Silver Award for Middlemarch .