In 1820s rural England, a young girl is tricked by tales of marriage from a villainous Squire. When she becomes pregnant and disappears, a gipsy lad is blamed.

The film begins in a BBC studio with the 100th edition of “In Town Tonight”. Flotsam and Jetsom open with a “topical number”. Then there is an interview with a distinguished actor, which dissolves into a performance of one of his famous melodramas about a wicked moneylender etc.