Connie hires a personal secretary, Baxter, to tidy up Blandings and Clarence, and impress the visiting Schoonmakers; but Freddie's attempts to sell them dog-food contribute to the extreme discomfort of the occasion. Guest starring David Walliams as Baxter.

Connie is anxious to make a good impression on her visiting childhood friend Veronica, and her rich American husband, Jimmy Schoonmaker. She enlists the services of the pathologically fastidious secretary Rupert Baxter to purge Blandings - and in particular Clarence - who is liberally anointing his roses with stinking manure.

Meanwhile, Freddie has fallen madly in love with dog-lover Pandora and attempts to impress her by becoming a dog-food salesman, much to his Aunt Connie's exasperation.