The orderly suburban life of a 1950's English town is turned on its head when the teenaged daughter of one of the residents writes a steamy bestseller featuring characters obviously based on the local population.
After he accidentally causes the death of his partner, trapeze artist Bill Ryan leaves the circus and sinks into an alcoholic mire of self-pity. Things look up when elegant Jackie Field takes interest in Bill, but she hides a sinister motive. Ignoring Kitty, the shopgirl who adores him, Bill falls for Jackie and joins her gang of thieves, but the daring stunt she has him perform may lead to disaster.
Howard Phillips, a vicar who's new in the town of Bellington, wants to reach out to youth. The previous vicar's daughter, Hester Peters, who fears being a spinster, wants to be his wife. He tells her he's not interested. When he confronts a tough kid about something the youth has done, the lad sets out to frame the vicar. Hester, who's walked in on the confrontation, backs the youth's story. The town sides with her and the lad, turning against Phillips. He has a crisis of faith. What options does he have; can no one help him, his reputation, or his calling?
Marine atomic tests cause changes in the ocean's ecosystem resulting in dangerous blobs of radiation and the resurrection of a dormant dinosaur which threatens London.
Sid Gibson is a soap powder salesman who decides what he really needs is TV advertising. The problem is, he's absolutely broke. He calls upon his friend Arthur Ashton, who arranges to sneak a plug for Sid's suds into a live TV spectacular. The public goes bananas for the product but to maintain sales Sid and Arthur must arrange for ever more outrageous plugs on TV shows. The Ascots races, the Edinburgh Military Tattoo - no show is safe.
A gang of thieves led by American Eddy (Reed de Rouen) kill a security guard during a botched safe robbery and flee with his daughter (Leigh Madison) as a hostage. They hide out in a dangerously unstable old warehouse for a couple of days awaiting their getaway ship to sail, but Johnny (Kenneth Cope) falls for the girl - provoking a serious falling-out and a violent conclusion to the disastrous heist.
