They call her the Duchess of Southwark - she is eighty years old, lives in a Council flat just off Borough High Street, down by London Bridge. Her real name is Anne Garner and she lives alone, but rather like the Lady Bountiful of a bygone era, she fills her life with good works, church committees, and a wide range of acquaintances among the young and old of Southwark. She is determined to remain self-sufficient, to have a full life. How does she set about staving off the emptiness of life for someone who is old, out of date, necessary to no one except herself?