The secondhand bookshop in which Adrian works is threatened with closure. The spark has fizzled out of his marriage. His mother is threatening to write her autobiography (A Girl Called Shit). And Adrian's nightly trips to the lavatory have become alarmingly frequent.
As his troubles multiply, a drunken call to old flame Dr Pandora Braithwaite (BA, MA, PhD, MP and Junior Minister) awakens memories of what might have been and causes Adrian to wonder: is Pandora the only one who can possibly save him?
