Joe and Joy along with Joe’s brother and his wife borrowed afortune to swap a life of fish filleting on a cold Lancashire market to buy abar/restaurant on a sunny Spanish holiday island. Three years on and they stillvery much feel like fish out of water thanks to the language barrier,bureaucratic bungling and complete inability to master the art of pandering toa bizarre array of holidaymakers and expats.

David’s wife fled back to the UK after realising in justthree months that not only was the grass not greener on the other side, butthat there was very little of the green stuff to be found at all. Now theremaining relationship has reached breaking point, as Joy buckles under thestress of 18-hour days while smiling in seven languages to pay off the hugedebt.

When Joe’s old band mate from England shows up, she makesuse of a comforting shoulder to distract her from the burden but Joe returnsfrom the cash and carry and discovers it’s not only the musician’s shoulderthat Joy has been finding comfort in. Joe and Joy split up, their 85-year-oldNan arrives for a ‘working holiday’ and a neighbouring bar declares war on theSmugglers Tavern. When Joy then announces she’s abandoning ship to go and live withthe singer in England, the pressure cooker environment explodes.

Joy stays, but so does the pressure and a fire in thekitchen, their main source of customers disappearing literally overnight and a customerdying in the bar provide a trinity of final straws. The trio sell the Smugglersto one of the many mini-mafias believing it’s the answer to all their prayers.However, the sale falls through and abject despondency sets in again until atthe 11th hour another buyer steps up and the keys to their personal hell arefinally handed over.

They finally get the freedom they’ve both yearned for andcan continue to build back the relationship they once had.