[1][2] The cast of four comprises Dennis Cain, his wife Pauline, later joined by Jane and Roger, and the setting is a bungalow in Castlehills, a fictional new middle-class housing development in the north of England.
[3] The cast await the arrival of Dennis' parents, lost in the warren of identical roads and bungalows, whilst discussing the wave of puerile vandalism that has inflicted, it seems mysteriously, all but the Cain's gardens.
The 'Parnes Kids' are blamed for gnome decapitations, painted garden vegetables, Radox filled fountains and a Venus de Milo with arms stuck on it – but could the culprit be closer to home?
The play contains a number of contemporary cultural references including Terry Wogan as a prime time interviewer (Michael Parkinson in the 1980 original script); Russell Harty; Richard Clayderman; Margaret Thatcher's tax policy (1985 version only); The Jewel in the Crown (1985 version only); the 'video nasties' controversy.
Despite not being as well known as Russell's Shirley Valentine, Blood Brothers and Educating Rita, the play has been adapted for television and performed several times over the years, professionally and under amateur licence.