georgie sinclairs life is coming unstuck her husbands left her her sons obsessed with the end of the world and now her elderly neighbour mrs shapiro has decided they are relatedor so the hospital informs her when mrs shapiro has an accident and names georgie next of kin this however is not a case of a quick ward visit mrs shapiro has a large rickety house full of stinky cats that needs looking after and that a pair of estate agents seem intent on swindling from her plus there are the uselesses trying to repair it uselessly then theres the social worker who wants to put her in a nursing home not to mention some letters that point to a mysterious painful pastas georgie tries her best to put mrs shapiros life back together somehow she must stop her own from falling apart