The Knox Oil and Gas Company lives in the top of a huge Houston skyscraper thousands of miles from the North Sea oil - and light years away from the sleepy Scottish seaside village it wants to buy raze and replace with refineries and deep-water docks. Knox sends its ace deal-maker and chief negotiator to handle the negotiations. But instead of encountering stiff local resistance he finds cheerful prospective millionaires beautiful northern lights and a mermaid with webbed toes. One of the most enchanting comedies in years Bill Forsyth's slyly original comic lark is pure cinema magic.