In 1968, Sean, a young law student studying in Liverpool, is hitchhiking to London to visit his girlfriend, Catrin, encountering a number of eccentric characters along the way. As Sean travels South, the reader learns more about his childhood in Wales, his Irish grandparents and his Catholic upbringing, and the expectation that he will fulfil his potential by studying law - the subtle intergenerational pressure to reach a position of comfort and good standing. The experience of studying law is clouded for Sean by his sense that there might be other paths to take if only he knew more about himself and the world. Sean has not managed to get the grades he needs to study in London, where Catrin is living. he has the sense that things are passing him by and is caught between his desires and moral education, wondering how to be a man.