Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need – a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends, worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog, and a pipe or two, enough to eat and enough to wear, and a little more than enough to drink; for thirst is a dangerous thing.’

Afflicted by every malady in the book except housemaid’s knee, three men and a dog opt for a tranquil vacation on the Thames. Envisioning peace and leisure, they find themselves, in reality, embracing the joys of roughing it-getting their boat stuck in locks, being towed by amateurs, having to prepare their own meals, and, of course, contending with the unpredictable English weather.