Welcome to Edgecombe St. Mary, a small village in the English countryside filled with rolling hills and thatched cottages. One of the residents is Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired). He is wry, courtly, opinionated, and completely endearing. You will also find here a cast of characters both hilariously original and as familiar as the members of your own family.

The Major leads a quiet life valuing the proper things that Englishmen have lived by for generations: honor, duty, decorum, and a properly brewed cup of tea. But then his brother’s death sparks an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the Pakistani shopkeeper from the village. Drawn together by their shared love of literature and the loss of their respective spouses, the Major and Mrs. Ali soon find their friendship blossoming into something more. But village society insists on embracing him as the quintessential local and her as the permanent foreigner. Can their relationship survive the risks one takes when pursuing happiness in the face of culture and tradition?