Jess Oakroyd, a stolid Yorkshireman who is burdened with a nagging wife and sarcastic son, finally decides to pack a small basket of clothes and set off to travel about England. His adventures begin when he gets a ride in a large van loaded with stolen goods. The driver of the van and the driver’s helper leave Jess at an inn in a small hamlet after having robbed him while he was asleep. Rudely awakened by the innkeeper, Jess has no money to buy his breakfast. Setting off afoot, he comes upon another van, in which a man is attempting to repair a battered peddler’s stall. In return for his help, the peddler, who sells fancy balloons, gives Jess breakfast and a ride.

Jess stays with him for three days and then sets out walking again. Within the hour, he comes upon a stalled car and helps the driver, Miss Trant, start the motor. Miss Trant, who has recently inherited several hundred pounds from her father, is thirty-five years old. Since all of her previous adventures were limited to those in historical novels, she decides to travel across England. While Jess works on the car, it begins to rain, so they head for a tearoom nearby. There they meet Inigo Jollifant and his odd-looking companion, who is carrying a banjo. Just like Jess and Miss Trant, Inigo began his adventures on the previous Monday evening.

Inigo was unhappy as an instructor at a boys’ school because of the headmaster’s petty tyranny. He was dismissed after he became drunk and played the piano in celebration of his twenty-sixth birthday. Inigo, too drunk to do the prudent thing and wait for morning, packed a knapsack and immediately set out on his travels. In the railroad station of a small town, he met his banjo-carrying companion, Morton Mitcham, a professional entertainer.

In the tearoom, the shrewish proprietress berates a group of customers who are unable to pay their bill. The banjo player recognizes them as members of a theatrical troupe who are stranded, as they explain, after their manager absconded with their funds and a young woman. On impulse, Miss Trant decides to take over the stranded company. That night, they make plans for taking the show back on the road, and they decide on the name The Good Companions. The troupe is made up of an elderly comedian, a young and pretty musical comedy singer named Susie Dean, Morton Mitcham, a dancer named Jerry Jerningham, a girl singer, and an older couple who sing duets. Miss Trant becomes the manager, Inigo the accompanist, and Jess, at Miss Trant’s insistence, the handyman.

The troupe’s first appearance is in the little town where Miss Trant had found them. The show is not a success, but their second engagement, at a seaside hotel, meets with obvious favor. The most appreciated actors are Jerry and Susie, for whose acts Inigo writes catchy tunes. For several weeks, the company’s routine is one of rehearsals and performances, with train rides between the two- or three-night engagements in each town.

As the weeks pass, Inigo falls in love with Susie; she laughs at him and says that she cannot fall in love and marry until she becomes a star and plays in London. Miss Trant is enjoying herself thoroughly. All of her life had been spent in the sleepy village of Hitherton in southern England, where her father had settled upon his retirement from the army. She considers her theater associates far more interesting than the small sedate group of her father’s village friends.

When The Good Companions play...