An ex-miner turned poet is appointed writer-in-residence at Eastwood branch library. Ellen, senior librarian, soon realizes the feckless but charming Geordie is no poet. Despite this she finds him highly entertaining, much to the disgust of Nutley, an earnest young man who covets the writer-in-residence role. These three find themselves an unlikely but united strike group when the Libraries sub-committee proposes demolishing the library.