The lively Barleybridge Veterinary Hospital is bustling with energy. Everyone is working hard to make sure that sick animals in the surgery and on the farms are treated. But at the same time some of the staff are coping with crises in their personal lives. This is a funny but tender novel about life in the country.

The lively Barleybridge Veterinary Hospital is bustling with energy. Everyone is working hard to make sure that sick animals in the surgery and on the farms are treated. But at the same time some of the staff are coping with crises in their personal lives. Kate is worrying about her exam results and hoping she can get into Veterinary College. Dan's wife's baby is due any moment. Letty is worried that she may be terminally ill but is afraid to tell anyone. Joy finds that she is still in love with Mungo, a fact that finally compels her husband Duncan to leave home. Rhodri is deeply in love with Megan, a local farmer's daughter, but she can't marry him because she is committed to caring for her elderly father. A wonderfully pacy, funny but tender novel about life in the country.