When parish council president Barry Fairbrother dies unexpectedly, the town of Pagford is in shock. An English idyll with a cobbled market square and an old abbey, Pagford is not what it seems at first glance. What hides behind the beautiful facade is a city at war: the rich with the poor, teenagers with their parents, men with their wives and teachers with their students. The empty seat Barry left on the parish council quickly becomes the catalyst for the city's biggest fight to date. Who will triumph in an election full of passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?