Evelyn Axon and her daughter, Muriel, barricaded in their once-respectable house, are surrounded by years of garbage―and plenty of family secrets, to boot. They completely baffle Isabel Field, the social worker assigned to help them. But Isabel has troubles of her own: an elderly father who wanders the streets, and a lover, Colin, who wants her to run away with him. But Colin has three horrible children and a shrill wife who is pregnant again―how is he going to run anywhere?

As Isabel wrestles with her own problems, a horrible secret grows in the darkness of the Axon household. When at last it comes to light, the result is by turns hilarious and terrifying.