Variety artist Grace Pearson heads home after two successful years touring the country in a succession of hit shows, intending to give her family a grand time. However, on arrival back in the quiet surrounds of Plumborough she discovers everyone drowned in gloom.

The town's beloved covered market, she soon discovers, is under threat of redevelopment. And for Grace this isn't just a community issue but a family one, for her father is proprietor of the music stall, and the market's longest-serving leaseholder with it.

For Mr Belfer, owner of the large department store nearby, such small traders in their old-fashioned market hall are of little concern: he's declared war against them all and seems to have the entire council on-side with his plan to demolish the market and use the site for a large, modern extension of his own shop. To complicate matters further, Grace's brother Sidney and Marjorie, Belfer's pretty daughter, are hopelessly in love with each other, and Mr Pearson Sr. is unwell and unable to work!

Always ready to help others, Grace turns down an invitation to audition for a large West End show in order to stay in Plumborough, run the stall and save the market too. Aided and abetted by the other stallholders - notably the Chirks, Joe and Alf - she sets to work revitalising the market. First they engage Belfer in a price-cutting war, but with officialdom on his side drastic action is soon on the cards - namely a grand old lock-in protest!