Having taken a breather following the traumatic end to the first leg of his 'quest', Gerald Ferguson from Basingstoke is ready to continue on his circumambulation of Britain. At a Pub in Broadstairs he meets Beryl, an overbearing, tyrannical former teacher of German with ambitions on improving the English language, tweaking the order of the alphabet, and bedding Gerald. Add to this an eagerness to put her recently acquired knowledge on reincarnation into effect, and Gerald finds himself enduring new levels of physical pain, embarrassment and threats to his personal liberty. Together they walk the marshy coast of North Kent and Essex, taking a short diversion along Southend Pier, before arriving in Suffolk, where he finally thinks he's rid himself of his domineering companion.