After he has celebrated his 40th birthday Tom decides that he is unhappy with his life style so he packs his job in, farms his large garden and becomes self sufficient.

The Goods install the first chickens in their chicken coop, but they prove slow to lay their first eggs. Incensed by the condescension of the Leadbetters when they are invited to dinner together with …

Tom buys an old-fashioned range for their kitchen from a passing rag-and-bone man, but Barbara becomes irate when she ends up doing most of the hard work to get it ready for use, while he tries to mak…

The Goods continue their bartering with local suppliers, but Barbara has a misunderstanding while negotiating with the window-cleaner. They then add a pair of pigs in a sty to their back garden, at wh…

Tom puts the finishing touches to their own electricity generator in the cellar, which runs on their animals' waste. He then goes fishing with Jerry, and decides to store the surplus in the freezer, u…

In order to pay for a treat for Barbara, Tom takes a short contract from his old firm, and tries to keep it a secret from her - but his plan is foiled when he fails to account for Margo's nosiness.

While starting the harvest, Tom injures his back digging,and since Margo and Jerry are on holiday Barbara is left to look after the farm all on her own. A storm then adds to their problems by turning …

The Goods are faced with paying their rates bill (local property tax). They try to sell their harvest surplus to raise money, but it proves more difficult than Tom imagines.

The Goods take in a student couple for a week, to help them with the work on the smallholding. The couple rapidly become infatuated with the Goods and their way of life. When they decide to buy the ot…

A journalist writes a freelance article on the Goods and their way of life. Margo tries to muscle in to promote her forthcoming amateur dramatics production. Jerry obtains quantities of free merchandi…

Leeks start to go missing from the front garden, and Tom initially suspects Margo. When he discovers the real culprit, he takes the law into his own hands, but ends up in deeper trouble than the thief…

Jerry refuses to put up a foreign businessman visiting the company, as it would interfere with Margo's performances as Maria in a local amateur production of The Sound of Music, and he is consequently…

A boar-walker visits the Goods' remaining pig, and recommends they move to a larger smallholding that he knows is for sale. Neither Tom nor Barbara can think of a good reason not to go, but neither re…

Tom's inability to repair the roof decides the Goods on joining evening classes in practical subjects, Barbara taking pottery and Tom taking weaving. Both do badly and decide to swap subjects. Tom ach…

The pressure of work sowing the new season's crops requires the Goods to make the most of the daylight hours. The disturbance of their early morning work sours their friendship with the Leadbetters, a…

Perky gives birth to her litter, which includes a runt, in the middle of the night, observed by the Goods & Leadbetters. Sentimentality overcomes practicality, and they decide to try to help the runt …

The need for some means of transport to replace the broken trolley causes Tom to modify the rotavator. To pay for its fuel, the Goods decide to take temporary work as domestic staff... with the Leadbe…

A fellow allotment holder claims that talking and playing music to his plants gives better yields, so Tom decides to do a scientific experiment, enlisting Barbara's help. Unfortunately, playing music …

The Goods are furious when they learn that Margo is planning to put up a large wind-break that will shade their new fruit patch. Mix-ups occur when they ask her to site it elsewhere. To repair their f…

The Goods find they have fleas, which they initially believe are from their animals. Then they remember that they have just been next door to the Leadbetters.

Various people mistake Barbara for a man, causing her to doubt her femininity, and when she accidentally tears her last good dress, she becomes distraught. Tom compounds things by fawning over an eleg…

When the poor harvest and other tribulations of life get to the Goods, the Leadbetters suggest they go away on a short break, and volunteer to look after things while they're away. But can they be tru…

The Goods need some fertiliser for their land in preparation for sowing the new season's crops. When they try getting it from the pony club that Margo belongs to, they find that although she pretends …

When Margo's society's guest speaker pulls out at short notice, Barbara agrees to give a talk about self-sufficiency. She's so good that Lady Truscott asks her to do several other talks, but it interf…

When Margo buys a spinning wheel, Tom buys a loom so that the Goods can borrow the spinning wheel and make their own clothes. However, Barbara has just convinced Jerry to forbid Margo to spend any mor…

The Goods obtain some sheep fleeces, make their own vegetable dyes, and start making their own clothes using their loom. Jerry's boss decides to retire, and invites three potential successors to dinne…

Tom sets his eye on the contents of the other neighbors' heating oil tank when they move out. Barbara just manages to convince him that it would be stealing. Then they get permission to take it.

Although troubles beset them, the Goods are still glad that they've followed the path of self-sufficiency. Jerry thinks he's failed to succeed Andy as head of JJM. Margo installs a burglar alarm syste…