Nigel Dorking's parents are divorced, and his father has remarried and
has two step-daughters. Nigel is a lonely, precocious child who idolises
his absent father and longs to have more to do with him, but he has a
bed-wetting problem and is anxious to hide the fact from his dad. That's
not his only problem though: his mother is about to marry a man Nigel
detests, a large, loud Scottish man called Gordon. Things are further
complicated by Ivan, Nigel's little brother, who is profoundly disabled
and utterly dependent. Gradually, Nigel comes to realise that his
father, the man he hero-worships, is a failure as a father, and it is
Gordon who deserves his affection and trust.