Monsieur Martin resides at the bottom of the lane with his wife, his son, a dog called Clovis and a herd of small spotted ponies. Monsieur Martin worries about the orchard of diseased pear trees that divides his land from that of his neighbours, Phyllida and the partner who cannot be named. Madame Martin, once the bottom prop in a family of acrobats, is an unhappy, oppressed woman who spends her days in a grimy kitchen peeling and boiling the fruits of Provence. Their son, Christophe, packs potatoes and dreams of academic fame. Clovis whines sorrowfully in his cage. Good news This is an account of contemporary life in the South in which most of the participants finally wake to find that stories which don't involve semi-naked tractor drivers and women who become international pickle purveyors are largely irrelevant. Because the lives of the ordinary are always extraordinary.