 Walter Goodfellow, the vicar for the small English country parish of Little Wallop, has allowed his marriage to Gloria go stale and he is so detached from his family that he has not taken notice that his 17-year-old daughter Holly is going through a succession of inappropriate relationships with unsuitable boyfriends and his son Petey fears going to school due to being bullied. Out of desperation for affection, Gloria begins to fall for the advances of Lance, the American golf pro that is giving her "private" lessons. The problems upsetting the family start to fade away after Grace Hawkins, the new housekeeper, arrives and starts tending to matters as an older, and rather darkly mysterious version of Mary Poppins.