Mike Porter lives alone in an isolated cottage at the end of the village of Trenton on the Wold, North Yorkshire. Mike writes music, and his haunting melodies can often be heard if you walk past his cottage. Nobody minds, mostly because you're unlikely to walk past his cottage unless you're considering knocking at the door. Mike's cottage was about two miles outside the village, and there was nothing past Mike's cottage to walk too.
Mike is the go-to man if you have a problem. Mike's advice is legendary. In 2000, he helped Julie Pullen, and in this book, we see how he helped Julie's mother, Mandy, two years later. Julie is also helped with another spanking for letting her Sedum burrito die. A little later, we meet Ava and Ivy Brown. Two twins who can't help competing for everything.
To have a Sedum burrito was a sort of badge of honour in the village of Trenton on the Wold. Mike would give one to everybody he spanked. Nobody could ever remember the Latin name for the plant, so it was simply called Uncle Mike's Plant.