The setting is Blandings Castle, idyllic country seat of eccentric Clarence, 9th Earl of Emsworth. It is summer time and Blandings is bursting with bizarre visitors including his Lordship's sister Lady Constance and Alaric, Duke of Dunstable. The much-married Duke brings with him a recently purchased painting of a rather fetching nude which, it seems, everyone wants to get their hands on - including American Wilbur Trout who believes the nude resembles his latest ex-wife. While Lord Emsworth is convinced the portrait bears more than a passing resemblance to his peerless prize pig, the Empress!