Hard-working Joan Trotter lives in Peckham, London,with her lazy husband Reg, his father and her wheeler-dealer son Derek,known as ‘Del’,who has just left school. It’s 1960 and new flats are being built.

Joan wants the family to move into one from their pokey terrace house but is told priority is for families with small children. Freddie ‘The Frog’ Robnal,released after ten years in prison for robbery, returns to Peckham and is attracted to Joan – though he robs the cinema where she is the assistant manager. He throws a party, making sure she is the only guest and they end up in bed as he had planned. Joan gets pregnant but convinces bone-head Reg that he is the father though Del has his doubts. At least Joan’s situation gets her her wish – to move her family into the flats,where she gives birth to baby Rodney, named after Rod Taylor, star of the film ‘The Time Machine’.