The three pivotal plot situations in this sociologically detailed novel of sex in the exurbs are--an attempt on the part of the insufferably snobbish Connells to get rid of a family of earthy country folks whose ramshackle house and privy are spoling their view; the annual amateur musical and the aspirations of the lead to break into Bucks society; the sordid way in which TV producer Barksdale learns of his wife's infidelity. The Connells are forced to move back to Westport; a bat ruins the musical; and Barksdale after half-killing a man, mistreating his wife and alienating his daughter, comes to a realistic modus vivendi. In and around all this hurly-burly are exurbanite- like descriptions of Bucks mores from the local yokels and Quaker gentry to the gay boys, artists both real and imagined, teen-agers and suburban interlopers. Situations and characters usually found in a Westport setting gain interest from the switch to New Hope (thinly disguised here as Olympia) in a slick and readable novel that has overlooked none of the ingredients that lead to the bestseller list.