The Doctor takes Mel to the Royal Albion Hotel in Brighton to celebrate his nine hundred and ninety-first birthday. At the same time, Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart finds himself at the same hotel with forty-eight hours to wait until he meets a contact by the name of Herr Hahnstier. The Doctor accidentally creates a scene in the hotel restaurant, causing a waitress to spill her tray of cream cakes into the lap of a lady dining there. As the Doctor and Mel breeze off, Alistair offers his assistance to the lady, who gives her name as Doris.