When the Mayor of the small New Zealand town of Brewster’s Neck is killed by an Auckland bus, his deputy, Dimple Potts must ‘step up to the plate.’ But it is with great indignation that Dimple realises he has not inherited a sinecure. A challenger arises – the radical Sarah Bumbulis – baker of Brewster’s Neck and opposed to a Council scheme to mine coal. Her political movement, titled the GLADS, goes head-to-head with the hard-nosed FOKKERS created by the town’s scheming ‘magnate,’ Corker Pritchard.

Meanwhile, the mysterious Homeless Hauptmann dies from a grievous throat wound inflicted by a Pawnee arrow; inventor Doug Hemopo is creating New Zealand’s largest robot; beekeeper Porterhouse Johnson makes an horrific discovery; and constable Herb Hikaka grapples with a crimewave, political intrigue and general mayhem that turn this rural heartland town upside down and cause the lights in Auckland to go out…