Life at the Royale – a large Edwardian seaside hotel now converted into apartments – should be gracious and lovely for its retiree residents. But their lives are blighted by the unscrupulous doings of their rogue landlord Paul Levine.

Then Dan Brearley, a retired Secret Agent, moves in. Paul Levine begins to get under his skin and Brearley makes it his business to find out all he can about him. In so doing he uncovers a smuggling ring led by a murderous international crime boss John Gonzales.

As Dan Brearley charms the eccentric residents of the Royale, falling in love along the way, he single-handedly smashes the smuggling ring and destroys the world of Paul Levine. But will John Gonzales let him get away with it? Can Dan Brearley and his new wife escape the grizzly end the vile gangster has in-store for them?