Arthur and Elizabeth Rhodes, a married couple in their sixties, settle down for an evening at home when there's an unexpected ring at the door. It's June Potter, from the local council's social services department, who is following up a leaflet that was posted concerning a register of old people in the area.

Mrs Rhodes claims not to have received it (she actually threw it away) and interrogates June about her credentials, citing previous cases of elderly people being attacked by impostors. June is eventually allowed over the threshold, but not before being criticised about her lack of a recognisable uniform. Far from being offended, June is impressed by this level of caution.

Mrs Rhodes attempts to match June's preference for lemon tea with the aid of a plastic lemon-juice squirter, and the interview commences. It quickly becomes clear that June is very inexperienced, having only recently switched departments from transport to social services.

She reads out a statement about the risks faced by old people, but almost every sentence is challenged or misunderstood, and Mr and Mrs Rhodes make it clear that they don't want to be involved with anything that might involve socialising with people they don't know. They are also (not unreasonably) suspicious that they are being used as guinea pigs to help improve June's interview technique.

As the interview progresses, June is questioned in turn, revealing that she's single, her parents are divorced and that she lives in a relatively run-down area. Mrs Rhodes queries whether she and her husband are truly the ones at risk. June is distressed by this, because she has inadvertently ended up in what her notes call a confrontation situation.

Mr and Mrs Rhodes talk about their daughter Margaret, a personal secretary with her own flat in London whose job involves much foreign travel. They talk about the various places that they've been, and Mrs Rhodes encourages her husband to go upstairs to look for a picture.

While he's out of earshot, she confides to June that they have another child, Colin, but he's in a home due to an unspecified mental problem. She tells June his life story, but June says that it's not relevant to the interview.

June is concerned that Margaret's job and lifestyle might mean that she wouldn't be able or willing to care for her parents if something happened to them. Mr Rhodes returns, and the conversation continues along these lines, but they're convinced that everything would be all right, and that 'next door' would step in if Margaret was unavailable.

June has finished her questions and thanks them, not just for their co-operation but for their tolerance of her mistakes. After she leaves, Mr Rhodes looks at the card that she left with an emergency telephone number and the word 'HELP!' in large red letters, and comments that it makes him feel older. They resolve not to show it to Margaret on her next visit.