The ‘Thatcher years’- a time of unemployment, poverty, protests, hippies, dropouts and travellers. Oh yes, and greed, as long as it’s only the rich who are greedy. Winterborne Grayshott is a fictional Dorset village and Lizzie lives in a run-down cottage on the Greyshott Manor estate; owned by a titled lady, who doesn’t care about Lizzie’s leaking roof. She has no problem with the hippies and dropouts, they are her mates; always ready to lend a hand. But she feels lonely, has money problems and her ex-husband is a pain in the neck. There are some possibilities in the boyfriend department, such as Peter, a boring history teacher, who is definitely not the one. There’s Mick, her old friend from Art College, now a singer and songwriter. Long hair, long legs and deep deep eyes. The trouble is that he keeps disappearing back to Ireland. There’s Wilf of the embarrassing ripped jeans, but he wouldn’t do at all. You’d never know what he’d do next. Lizzie’s two best friends are Dee and Zena. They’ve both given up men, or so they claim. Dee lives in a van with her two kids and travels around to Festivals and Fairs, selling her craftwork. She is heavily pregnant and waiting for the chance to ditch Lennie when he comes out of prison. Zena is the owner of the Art shop in Bridport. She’s large, outspoken; all flowing scarves and bangles. She’s no fool when it comes to men. Some say she eats them for breakfast. Lizzie’s problems mount up; broken car, broken washing machine, Jeremy criticising her care of the children. The hippy gang help her out with that one…… Nosy Mrs Thomas twitches her net curtains and makes remarks about the type of people who come to the house and even calls the police when Lizzie’s party gets a bit loud. Oh dear. But when she meets Marcus Frost all her troubles are forgotten. He is a well-known sculptor and he completely sweeps her off her feet. He says he is madly in love with her and the kids adore him. Lizzie is dancing on air, crazy in love; and they have some wonderful times together. As the weeks go by, a few cracks appear. Marcus is unreliable and has a volatile and untameable nature, which does not bode well for the future. Gradually, things go from bad to worse. The final betrayal comes when a photo of Marcus with a bimbo appears in the press. Lizzie is devastated, heart-broken. Of course her friends are supportive and advise her to give up men. Zena is getting ready for the Christmas trade, Dee has had her baby- Mick is in Ireland again. Out of the blue comes an unexpected opportunity for Lizzie’s life to take a whole new direction - and to shed most of her problems at the same time.
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