The time has come for Redvers Potter to relinquish his role as head of the family confectionary firm, Pottermints - his company has been taken over and he is now going into enforced retirement. His wife, Aileen, is not too happy about having her husband under her feet either, but Potter is determined to make the most of his retirement. He decides he will give people the benefit of his managerial experience - even if they don't want it.

Henry Farr, a Wimbledon solicitor desperate to rid himself of his wife, settles on murder as a solution to his problem.