In an aristocratic Mayfair household, Crichton is devoted to his master, Lord Loam, even though he can't abide Loam's view that all men are equal. He detests his master's monthly tea parties where the family and their friends socialise with the servants. Nature, he argues, dictates that society needs masters and servants and people should stick to their status - for a butler to socialise with either a Lord or a stable-boy is abhorrent to him. Lady Mary, Loam's newly engaged daughter, shares Crichton's approval of social ranking and Crichton loves her disdain.

When the family is shipwrecked on a deserted island during their yachting trip, it's Crichton's resourcefulness which saves the day. Over the next two years on the island, their small society finds happiness and a brand new social order. And far away from the constraints of England, love affairs start to complicate relationships in their little tribe, with all the women desperate to win the heart of their beloved "Gov".