Provincial middle-aged widow Maggie (Faithfull) is happy to care for her seriously ill grandson Olly (Burke) and play bridge with her girlfriends. Olly's parents learn about an experimental new treatment but it's impossibly expensive and Maggie decides to get a job in London but is constantly rejected until she answers an advert at a Soho sex club. When she learns what she'll be paid, Maggie accepts the job--using the professional name Irina Palm, which hints at her sexual specialty--and is an unexpected success. However, her son Tom (Bishop) is soon wondering why his mother is so secretive.