When Parish Councilman Barry Fairbrother unexpectedly dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock. An English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, Pagford is not what it first seems. What lies behind the pretty facade is a town at war - rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils. And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest battle the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?