Gus Kubicek is a depressed and overweight cartoonist who recently won a battle against Hodgkin's lymphoma. His caring sister Lizzie Potts , a nosy romance novelist, responds to his sadness by trying to set him up with a suitable woman. Yet to do so she must make him seem more dynamic and attractive. When Gus falls in love with Emily, he adopts the persona of Lobo Marunga, a leather-clad motorcycling man from New Zealand.