When Parish Councilman Barry Fairbrother unexpectedly dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock. An English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, Pagford is not what it first seems. What lies behind the pretty facade is a town at war - rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils. And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest battle the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations? 电视剧和原著的差别。展现众生百像。一个黑色的童话故事。偶然的空缺，不偶然的悲剧。 巴里（罗里·金尼尔 Rory Kinnear 饰）是小镇上的教区议员，生前的他再也无法想到的是，自己的意外猝死会在风平浪静的小镇里掀起怎样的狂澜。霍华德（迈克尔·刚本 Michael Gambon 饰）和雪莉（朱莉娅·麦肯茨 Julia McKenzie 饰）是镇上的模范夫妻、西蒙（Richard Glover 饰）是个喜欢在老婆和孩子身上发泄怒火的暴力狂、沃尔校长（西蒙·迈克伯尼 Simon McBurney 饰）整日神经兮兮，每一个人都觉得自己是巴里所留下的职位的最佳继承者，并做好了十足的准备，为了得到他们所想要的东西而争得你死我活。 在名为“从地”的贫民区里，被小镇居民们视为眼中钉肉中刺的人们依旧过着日复一日的困苦生活，殊不知，一个意在将他们彻底“铲除”的计划正在悄悄酝酿。
