A waitress (Julie Walters), tired of not being able to make ends meet, starts to oversee the activities of the prostitutes to whom she sublets bedsits and is soon a fully fledged madame, running a brothel that caters mostly to middle-aged men with kinky requirements. Based loosely on notorious Cynthia Payne (aka 'Madame Cyn') whose respectable clients could pay using luncheon vouchers.