It's 1977 and Jack Sheffield arrives at a small village primary school in North Yorkshire. Little does he imagine what the first year will hold in store as he has to grapple with: Ruby, the 20stone caretaker with an acute spelling problem, Vera, the school secretary who worships Margaret Thatcher, Ping, the little Vietnamese refugee who becomes the school's best reader and poet, Deke Ramsbottom, a singing cowboy, father of Wayne, Shane and Clint... and many others, including a groundsman who grows giant carrots, a barmaid parent who requests sex lessons, and a five-year-old boy whose language is colourful in the extreme. And then there's beautiful, bright Beth Henderson, a deputy head, who is irresistibly attractive to the young headmaster.