Plot summary

Brian Stimpson is the fastidious headmaster of Thomas Tompion, a public comprehensive. He believes everything has its proper place but more importantly its proper time as he continually watches the clock to ensure those things that are supposed to happen at a certain time indeed do happen, including his students being in class, those not who must report to his office at 09:20 for a reprimand. In his own mind, he has made history in being the first public comprehensive headmaster to serve as Chair of the annual meeting of the Headmasters Conference this year at the University of Norwich, the Chair otherwise always from a snooty independent school. Today, his wife Gwenda Stimpson will drive him to the station to catch the 10:25h train to arrive in Norwich at 15:00h to allow him to greet attendees before he gives his historic welcome/keynote speech at 17:00h. Out of circumstance and unknown to Gwenda, Brian not only misses his train in he continually misunderstanding the context of the word "right", with no others today to get him to Norwich by 17:00h, but also loses his only copy of the speech. Exhausting all other options, he, in literally running into her in her family's car, asks one of his students, Laura Wisely to drive him to Norwich, he delivering the speech precisely at 17:00h in his mind which trumps her classes only in this circumstance. While all Brian can think about is getting to Norwich on time and trying to recreate the speech in his head, Laura has other thoughts, such as making sure that nothing happens to the family car, and grumbling about the just occurred break-up with her older boyfriend, the school's music teacher, Don Jolly. Unknown to them before they are able to leave town, Brian and Laura are spotted by a few people, including her mother and Gwenda, who believe that something improper is going on between the two, especially for Gwenda as Brian wouldn't let her accompany him to the meeting. As Brian and Laura get into one misadventure after another, they are followed by Gwenda, the Wiselys, Mr. Jolly, and others attached to them, with more joining the pursuit stemming from Brian and Laura's encounters en route.—Huggo