Reginald Perrin has a completely respectable career at Sunshine Desserts, a happy marriage and two less than satisfactory children. But the pressures of the rat race are beginning to push Reggie over the edge. The mere mention of his mother-in-law conjures the image of a hippopotamus, the word 'earwig' keeps creeping into his conversations, and his thoughts are repeatedly interrupted by outrageous fantasies involving his secretary and Reggie has to figure out what to do with his overstressed life.