Mr Hoppy (Dustin Hoffman) lives a quiet retiree's life, tending to his balcony garden, pottering to the shops and back and secretly being passionately, hopelessly in love with his downstairs neighbour, Mrs Silver (Judi Dench). From their first meeting in a cramped lift he is utterly captivated by her sparkle and warmth, but he regularly fails to tell her this during their neighbourly chats over the balcony.

When he finds she is distraught that her beloved tortoise, Alfie, doesn't appear to be growing, Mr Hoppy spots a chance to make his true love happy, and maybe even get closer to her in the process.

As Mr Pringle (Richard Cordery), another neighbour, sets his more lascivious sights on Mrs Silver, Mr Hoppy's world crumbles. Stoically, he continues with his cunning plan to make Alfie miraculously grow and finally wins his way into Mrs Silver's heart - only to find he had been there all the while.