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- Prim widow Irene Spencer sends a thank you letter to the rather hearty lady,Vera Small, another widow,who did the catering for Irene's daughter Lesley's wedding - where she got rather tipsy. An exchange of letters begins which will be carried on for years,though half of them are rather bitchy. When Vera trips over the dog and falls downstairs Irene sends her flowers but the florist gets the order wrong and Vera moves into her long-suffering friend Audrey's B & B.
- Vera has problems with builders whilst Irene is paid court by elderly Romeo Bill Snapes. Vera asks them round for lunch but they get rather too friendly and end up in bed, causing Irene to leave in a huff. Two years go by during which Bill marries a younger woman,Irene's daughter Lesley considers emigrating to Australia and Vera's daughter Karen has an unsuitable relationship. United in irritation the two ladies of letters re-commence their correspondence.
- Irene invites Vera to stay and takes her to the Cricket Club dance where she is to present a prize. However,due to a mix-up,Vera is asked to do the honours instead. An aggrieved Irene is put in mind of all the childhood disappointments she has suffered and Vera's attempts to cheer her up go awry. However, Irene has a far bigger problem to worry her, Lesley's imminent departure to Australia, which drives her to drink.
- Vera's daughter Karen falls pregnant and Irene visits her. It becomes apparent that Karen gets on better with Irene than she does with her mother, who is unaware that her son Howard is gay. He lives on a farming commune called Sheep-Dippers with his 'friend' Anthony,both of whom are vegetarians but Vera just thinks this is very modern. Irene joins a protest group to stop nuclear waste being dumped under the local golf course.
- Irene gets arrested during a demo against the dumping and ends up in hospital suffering from amnesia and prone to bad language. The vicar suggests Vera help her recall who she is by writing to her but the letters are all about Vera. Irene is released but, with her memory restored and finding herself next to a bull-dozer at roadworks,she decides to show her friends what happened at the demo and gets arrested again.
- Irene is in jail but popular with her cell-mates by showing them how to get round censorship in letters. Vera writes to her but censors her own letter so much it fails to make any sense. Then Vera gets arrested, following a police raid on the house due to Karen's drug-taking. The two ladies of letters thus end up on the same prison ship preparing the Christmas musical.
- Having been considered mad by the court Irene is released from the prison ship 'Pride of Cleveland' and moves into Sheep-Dippers along with Vera's daughter Karen,with her baby Sabrina, and Howard and Anthony. She organizes a Vera Small Is Innocent fork and finger buffet to raise funds to draw attention to her friend's plight. Howard is enthusiastic and misses his mother, Karen believes she should rot in hell
- Despite the success of the Free Vrea Small campaign, Vera herself decides she prefers the more exciting life on the prison ship,where she is organizing a performance of 'Les Mis'. Irene, vexed by Howard's whining for his mother and Karen's loose ways, evicts the squatters from Vera's house and moves in. However she learns that the council want to run a new by-pass through the back garden, which is the cue Vera needs to come home.
- Vera's house gets demolished and, thanks to the credit crunch, once her mortgage has been paid off,she will see precious little of the compulsory purchase compensation. Irene entrusts her to look after her dog, Sidney, who is temporarily lost. Irene is furious but sees a way to patch things up.She has just won a camper van in the Cricket Club raffle and suggests she and Vera -and Sidney - tour the world in it.Vera is dismayed to find the van is old and rather shabby but gets in all the same and the ladies set out on their big adventure.
- After getting high on drugs given her by the prison shrink Vera is released and goes to Sheep-Dippers,where she finds her children hard going. Irene sells up and moves into Vera's old house, which she believes to be haunted. She also discovers that the by-pass will probably be coming through the lounge and not the back garden. As the ladies swap pen and paper for emails, Vera records her mixed feelings on the fate of her house - and downs another gin and tonic.
- Five years after their European holiday ended in a bust-up Irene invites Vera to the funeral of mutual ex- Bill Snapes, where they strive to outdo each other in glamorous black outfits and Vera falls over dancing at the wake, injuring herself. Irene becomes her reluctant carer until her son Howard takes her to the Sheepdippers commune after which she inflicts herself on a friend's B & B whilst awaiting sheltered accommodation.
- Vera moves into her sheltered accommodation,a caravan in windy resort Vicker-upon-St.-Agnes but Irene,storing up past grievances, sends her a harsh letter,causing Vera to inflict damage on the caravan site whilst sand-blasting her home. Accusing Irene of slander, she threatens to send a heavy round to sort her out but Irene decides to go and stay with her daughter,Lesley, in Australia.
- It's Vera's birthday,which she celebrates with her gay son and his partner and assorted colourful inhabitants from the trailer park. Irene sends her a letter -it's her birthday too which she celebrated with a crate of wine given her by her daughter Lesley. Lesley 'works late' and wears skimpy work clothes but Irene seems blissfully unaware of what she does. Irene is being romanced by Vincent,who took her to dinner for her birthday but forgot his wallet. Vera's daughter Karen comes to stay with her and proves something of a trial to her mother.
- In Australia Irene, wine-glass permanently in hand, minds Cheryl Marie and faces a daily battle with possums as she strives to keep the house clean. Vera looks after grand-daughter Sabrina whilst Karen goes off for a weekend which becomes a fortnight with her bit of rough,Damon. She is less than amused when the returning Karen breaks it to her that she is expecting Damon's child. Irene,however,can barely contain her amusement.
- After a relaxing stay at a health farm Vera is back taking care of Sabrina for the ever-absent Karen,and getting a visit from Social Services. Irene,meanwhile, drunk and lonely and losing Vincent, starts to write poetry. Unfortunately,after receiving a 'divine visitation' she begins to talk to God so that Lesley writes to Vera to say her mother is now in a mental hospital.
- Vera does her best to get her trailer full of the necessary number of fire extinguishers to ensure she gets custody of Sabrina. Irene,unable to recognize Lesley,writes to Vera for help to spring her from the mental hospital and indeed help does arrive,in the form of Karen and Damon who rescue her,the three of them ending up in the outback living rough,whilst Vera looks after both Sabrina and Damon's dog.
- After taking Irene's tablets Damon thinks he's a dingo so Irene and Karen give him the slip,ending up at Lesley's house. Irene lets Vera - now having obtained custody of Sabrina - know that she was drinking too much and only hallucinated and ended up in the mental ward because she accidentally used Lesley's stash of marijuana to make what she thought was a cup of tea to sober her up. Lesley and Karen get on famously and Karen gives birth to a little boy,two months earlier than expected. He is either premature or not the son of Damon,now incidentally being sighted in the wild as the Mystery Dingo Man.
- Irene minds the baby as Lesley and Karen go clubbing together whilst Vera,having minded mystic neighbour Yasmin's children moves with Sabrina into a flat in Candida Court,selling the trailer to some Eastern European emigrants. From her son Howard Vera learns that the baby's father is handsome vet St. John and not Damon at all. Poor Damon meanwhile is shot in mistake for a dingo.
- Vera is enjoying life in her flat,taking dance lessons from her African neighbour,Sara of the Astarte tribe. Irene is less over-joyed as she is still house-keeping for the girls in Australia and,whilst pleased that Lesley is pregnant,finds Brian,the putative father and Lesley's boss with whom she has been having an affair,heavy going. All in all she is in agreement with Vera that she should return to England. Vera discovers that St. Jiohn is not as well off as she had hoped but he still turns up in Australia to see his son.
- Harsh words are exchanged by letter after Irene accuses Vera of being controlling and,whilst Irene,Karen and St. John all return to England for the wedding, Vera announces her intention to boycott it. However,the revelation that St. John is indeed wealthy and owns a large country house with a granny flat for Vera soon changes her mind. The wedding ultimately goes ahead after one final spat between the ladies of letters.