Lionel is in the kitchen looking at a part of something and consulting a page of directions. "F-3" he says to himself, puts down the directions and sets to work. He picks up a model of some sort, looks for the spot, finds it, seems happy enough "F-3, that's it, good" and drops the piece on the floor. "Damn and blast," he says and gets down on the floor to search for it. Jean walks in and asks what he's doing. He tells her that he's playing hide and seek. She sees the directions on the kitchen table. "You're building a ship!" she shrieks. He has to admit that he is and that he's lost the top of his bowsprit. She gets down on the floor to help look for it. "What does a bowsprit look like?" she asks. He tells her that it's a tiny black thing. She can't see it and wants to give up. 
"Is it an essential piece of the ship?" she wants to know. Lionel gives her a dirty look. Sandy walks in and she, too, wants to know what they're doing. "Playing," Lionel tells her. Jean sings "Lionel's lost his bowsprit." A second dirty look. Sandy evidently has seen the directions, too, because she says that he's making a boat. Lionel corrects her -- a ship, he's making a ship. He's very short-tempered. Jean tells Sandy to help look because she has young eyes. She wants to know what it looks like. A spar, he says. Luckily she finds a bit of black plastic which Lionel is happy to say represents the bowsprit. 
He's being very, very careful about his pieces. Meanwhile Jean holds up a rather large piece and says "you can see daylight through that crack." Lionel tells her to be careful because it's only roughly glued together. He barely finishes the sentence before it comes apart in her hands. She wants to know if she should squeeze it back together and Lionel's voice rises an octave or so "Just leave it please." Sandy goes off to peel potatoes. Suddenly he realizes that the part he hopes to put F-3 is not the G-3 he was looking for, but rather B-7. He's frustrated and complaining that the numbers are too small. Jean tells him not to glare at her -- she didn't put the numbers on. Sandy suggests he use a magnifying glass, which he informs her he doesn't have. He tries to calm himself. He's sure it's just a matter of care, patience and logic. She tells him not to start again now because she wants to set the table for dinner. He breathes carefully -- he can barely keep himself from saying something.
Lionel brings the box containing the ship's parts into the study, where Judith sits writing a letter. She asks if he wants to use the desk, but he tells her to carry on -- it'll do him good to have a break anyway. "You're building a boat!" she says. "A ship. A ship," he's getting tired of correcting people. He starts to make himself a drink. She picks up a couple of the parts and is delighted at the miniaturizations, ooohing and aaahing over the pretty little parts. He's getting more and more snappy with Judith and says he doesn't make models, all right. He slams the bottle down and tells her he wishes he never bought the damn thing. 
He apologizes to Judith telling her he's a bit ratty. She observes that he's bored. She changes the subject. She'd like to tell him something about Sandy. He wants to know if she's sure she wants to talk to him about this. She ignores that and tells him that Alistair fancies Sandy. Lionel observes that Alistair fancies every woman he meets. Yes, she agrees, but they also like each other as well. He wonders whether or not she's matchmaking. Not exactly -- she just thinks they'll go well together. He tells her that it's not like making sandwiches. She wonders what he thinks about it. He says he wouldn't push it -- life is complicated enough as it is. She doesn't understand why Lionel appears to be so hostile. After all, she says, he likes Sandy and Sandy likes Alistair so what's wrong with her giving them a little push in each other's direction? He asks her how she would like it if someone did that to her. Who? she asks. He doesn't think that matters. They get into a long and tangled discussion about whether or not someone who didn't like Judy would have any reason to worry about her love life and whether or not it is possible for someone to like you if you didn't like them and by the time they got a couple of questions on the road they both forgot the original question. Judith says she'd better go help with dinner, but she thinks they should have another chat like this sometime soon. Lionel thinks maybe they ought to leave it for a week or two.
Lionel is in bed reading the shipbuilding directions. 
Jean comes in and tells him that she wishes he'd put that down. She asks why he bought it in the first place. Because he went to the libarary yesterday. She doesn't understand. That's all he did yesterday, he tells her. And he doesn't remember what he did the day before that. She asks him if he's bored. He sees the three of them go off to work every morning, he washes the breakfast things and then he waits for the next memorable event, which is their coming home in the evenings. Jean tells him that he makes himself sound like a woman in a dressing gown. He says that the next thing you know he won't bother to put any makeup on. She reminds him that when he was writing his book he used to grumble all the time. "Not all," he tells her. At least he wasn't dull. She thinks he should write something else. He doesn't have anything to write. What about the lecture tour? He tells her that he hasn't been asked back. After a dose of My Life in Kenya you can't blame them. She thinks he should lecture about something else then. 
Model-making? he asks. She tells him that sex is very popular. He tells her he can't really see himself lecturing about sex. Can you? he asks. "Not honestly, no," is her answer. She snuggles up to him and says that she can't stand his being bored. He's not during the weekends, he says. He has her then. Suddenly she backs off and calls him a crafty swine -- she thinks that he's saying this just to get her to retire. "I should have seen through that pathetic ship straightaway," she tells him. He reminds her that she did -- she held up the hull and saw daylight through the crack. He assures her that he only bought the model to fill in the time. She still thinks he should write something. Maybe, he says. He grabs the directions, slips into his slippers and gets out of bed. She tells him that she didn't mean this minute. He says he just wants one more crack at the ship. He'd like to go to bed knowing that at least he's glued two pieces together. He puts on his robe and walks out the door. A moment later he comes back and tells her she's welcome to come and give him a hand. She says with an enormous, phony grin across her face that it's very tempting, but she thinks she'll stay in bed. She rolls over and pulls the covers up.
Jean doesn't think she can imagine Lionel as a lollypop man. Judith agrees. When she thinks about it, it seems like it was a silly idea. Sandy says that a lot of retired men take up golf. Jean tells her that Lionel is not retired and neither is she. "What about flying?" Judith says. 
Jean is horrified. Sandy thinks that's a good idea. Jean doesn't. Sandy tells her that he'd have a plane. Jean couldn't relax if she knew that Lionel was thousands of miles up in the air. They can't think of anything that Lionel might do, but then again they only got the problem half an hour ago and it is a bit early to think of solutions. The model ship box is on the kitchen counter. They lift the cloth that covers it and remark that Lionel hasn't gotten very far. Lionel walks into the room -- he slept late because he didn't get to bed until after 3 a.m. He picks up the box and puts it on the kitchen table. He's very eager to begin and says that as a matter of fact he pushed on quite a bit the night before. Jean wants him to have breakfast first, but he just wants to put a couple of guns in, that's all. She thinks that this is becoming an obsession. No -- just a challenge, he says. This reminds Sandy that she got something for Lionel. 
It's a magnifying glass. He looks hurt. She says "you don't like it, do you?" He tells her that he does like it, but it's just that he associates magnifying glasses with failing faculties. She reminds him that Sherlock Holmes used one. That makes him laugh. They all leave. He's alone at the kitchen table and when he knows they're out of sight he picks up the magnifying glass and looks thru it, smiling.
Alistair and Judith are having coffee in a health club coffee shop. He tells her he'd like to help her but he doesn't see how he can. 
She doesn't think that's like Alistair. Well, he might be able to get Lionel a membership in the health club. Judith can't think of a single thing that might attract Lionel to a health club. Just then an attractive woman in a tight workout suit passes by. "Not a single thing," says Alistair. Judith reminds him that Lionel is married to her mother. He apologizes. She says that perhaps Jean has a good idea -- she thinks Lionel should write something. "The lovely lady has a point," Alistair says. "You are a publisher," Judith reminds him. Yes, he is, but even he can't publish something that isn't written. What about the miniseries, she wants to know. Well, if the miniseries takes off, Lionel will become the cheese that everyone wants to nibble. In the meantime, he'll try to think of something for Lionel to do. Has he ever let her down? He should have known better than to ask her that question. She didn't like it, she tells him, that when they went out together he was under the impression he could flirt with every other woman when she wasn't around. The point is, he says, that they're still mates. And Sandy. Judith tells him that she's not sure that Sandy sees it quite that way. "Hey hey," he says. He starts thinking to himself -- "Sandy?" She could cry off their date that night and leave him a clear field with Sandy. "You'd do that for me?" he asks. She says she wishes that he could think of something for Lionel to do. He asks if that is bribery. She prefers he call it incentive.
Alistair rushes into the living room holding his briefcase. He opens it and asks if Lionel's ready for this. "It's not going to be a glove puppet, is it?" Lionel asks. It's a book. It's called "Thunder and the Moon." Is that a title? Alistair asks. Lionel says he thinks it must be since it's printed on the cover. 
Alistair says that it is written by a major Roumanian artist whose name is unknown to Lionel (and probably to everyone else as well) and Alistair has just snatched up the rights to it. He wants Lionel to adapt it into a play or a television series or whatever. Lionel wonders why Alistair would suddenly turn up with a book for him to adapt. Alistair asks why the sun comes up every day. Lionel tells him that it has something to do with the rotation of the earth. Alistair wants to read him the first sentence: "I am alone..." (he pauses dramatically) "...with my sheep." Lionel looks wide-eyed. "Is that it?" Now he will read the second sentence: "But my sheep are not alone with me." He wants to know if that's deep or if that's deep. Lionel always thought that you shouldn't start a sentence with "but." Alistair assures him that this is a very serious piece of work. "About sheep?" he asks, incredulously. Lionel wants to know what it's about. Alistair can't really tell him and Lionel realizes that Alistair hasn't read it. He admits that he hasn't read it, but one of the best people on his team has and that's why he snapped it up. Lionel wants him to play it straight with him. Why is he bringing this book to him? He tells Lionel that it is his belief that the subject matter of this book is tailor-made for his very special sort of talent. Lionel knows that Alistair hasn't got a clue about the subject matter of this book and he tells Alistair that he knows that someone's gotten to him. He knows he just happened to mention that he feels at loose ends and suddenly Alistair shows up with a book to adapt. Doesn't this chain of events strike him as fortuitous? Lionel asks. "Why not look on it as serendipity?" Alistair suggests. Because it isn't, says Lionel and "you know it." Alistair says he really has to be going. He asks Lionel to just read the book and let him know what he thinks. Lionel is left alone to reread the first two sentences of the book. They seem to mystify him.
Jean walks into the kitchen followed by Lionel. She swears she doesn't know what he's talking about. He shows her the book. She thinks it's good that Alistair wants him to adapt a book. 
He says that that is just what he'd expect her to say. She tells him to just ask her directly what he wants to know. He accuses her of going up to Alistair and asking him to offer "something to keep Lionel happy." She says she didn't do it; he says she did. He says to stop treating him like a fool; she says he should stop behaving like one. Judith walks into the middle of this and hears them arguing. Lionel says that her mother had Alistair give the book to him as a sort of palliative. She has no choice but to admit that this was her doing. This surprises both Jean and Lionel. She didn't know the specifics about the book, but she did have coffee with Alistair that afternoon and she mentioned that Lionel was a bit bored and he's obviously come up with something. She tells him that there's no need to be so angry -- it was well-intentioned. Judith says that if Lionel hadn't blamed Jean she probably would have lied and said she knew nothing about it. She's glad it worked out this way because she doesn't feel comfortable telling lies. 
Just then Sandy shouts "Judy." Judith looks at them and says "Oh, I'm not well." Sandy comes into the kitchen and tries to hurry Judith because Alistair will be there soon. Judith tells her that she doesn't think she's up for this. Judith tells her that she should go. Sandy says they'll just make it for another night but Judith presses her to go without her. Jean and Lionel don't know what's going on. Sandy leaves and Jean tells Judith they don't have to know why. She says she's already told them: she thinks that Sandy and Alistair will go well together so she's giving them a nudge. It's good to know that she doesn't feel comfortable lying, Lionel tells her.
Alistair and Sandy are talking at his apartment. Alistair looks more and more uncomfortable as he realizes that all Sandy is doing is talking about Judith. Judith has not an ounce of malice in her, Judith is good, Judith is kind.... 
Alistair is fidgeting and bored. "Right," he says. Many times. Alistair moves over and sits on the couch next to her. He pours some wine. He leans back and puts his arm behind her neck. She's still talking about Judith. He tells her that she's been doing that all night and there are other types of conversation. She wants to know what he wants to talk about. Off come the glasses -- "Hey hey," he says and kisses the back of her neck. She pulls back. She's shocked and wants to know what he's doing. She calls him a ratbag. He has no idea what he's done. He tells her that Judith has led him to believe that she might welcome his advances. 
She realizes that he knew all the time that Judith wasn't coming that evening. She wonders what Judith is playing at. "Matchmaking," says Alistair. Sandy admits that that's what she's been doing. He realizes then that neither Judith nor Sandy is interested in him. Talk about crossed wires, Sandy says. She tells him that this has its funny side. He doesn't see it. 
Sandy explains that she really does like him. He hates it when women say that to him. She feels sorry for him and gives him a kiss on the cheek. He moves closer to her on the couch .... he doesn't suppose that they could upgrade that "like." She gets up and says she'll see herself out. Alistair immediately goes to the telephone to call someone for a date. He says "Hello darling, it's me. Pause. Alistair. Pause. Alistair Deacon. Pause. D E .... yes, long time no see."
Lionel is in bed reading the book that Alistair gave him and Jean is awakened because she had a nightmare. He tells her to go back to sleep but she doesn't want to because she's wide awake. She looks at the book. 
"You're really into that aren't you?" He tells her that he is, although it is against his better judgment. Lionel gives her a brief synopsis of the goings-on of the melodramatic characters in the novel and Jean says she thinks she'll just stick to the Archers. He wants to finish reading it just to see if anyone's alive or sane at the end. Then he'll say thanks, but no thanks. Jean tells Lionel that she doesn't know any Roumanians. 
"Doesn't leave a gap in your life, does it?" he asks. Lionel tells Jean about a man he sees in the reference room every time he goes to the libary. He's always there because he has nothing better to do. That man, he says, probably has no-one in his life to offer suggestions about what to do to fill his time, so he's thankful for his having Judith and Jean and Sandy and Alistair all trying to help him. She's afraid her ideas for his filling his time are none too good. His own -- the ship-modeling -- was not too original, he tells her. She asks him if he'll finish it. He can't, he says. He thinks the instructions are wrong and there are several pieces missing. There's a knock on the door. Judith and Sandy walk in and tell them that they've had a chat over the Alistair situation. Jean says she's glad they've gotten together over it. They've decided that it's off -- or on -- depending. 
Nice choice, says Jean. Lionel is confused, but says that he is staying completely out of it. While they were chatting, Sandy tells Lionel, they finished up his ship. She presents him with the completely assembled model ship. She wonders if he minds and he tells her that to be honest he's lost interest anyway. Judith says it's sweet. The girls say good night and leave. Lionel just keeps turning it round in his hands and staring at it. "I thought you said the instructions were wrong," Jean says, rubbing it in. "Confusing, I said." She pokes him playfully and laughs -- "where are the missing bits?"