Bob Newhart plays Dick Loudon, an author of do-it-yourself books and travel books (including "Many Moods Of Minnesota" and "Captivating Kansas".) He and his wife Joanna move from New York City to a small, unnamed town in rural Vermont (possibly Norwich[1]) to operate the 200-year-old Stratford Inn.[2] Dick is a sane, mild-mannered everyman surrounded by a community of oddballs in a town which exists in an illogical world governed by rules that elude him.
Near the end of the second season, Newhart was retooled and Dick began hosting a low-rated talk show on the town's local television station. As the series progressed, episodes focused increasingly on Dick's TV career and the quirky townsfolk. As the years went by, some characters were dropped and others were added.