The film concerns the late coming of age of protagonist Gavin Lamb (Birdsall), a painfully shy 31-year-old virgin still living at home with his parents and who works as a hairdresser in a West End salon. The socially awkward Gavin forges sudden romantic connections with three very different women: a sultry millionairess (Lynn Redgrave), an idiosyncratic recluse (Helena Bonham Carter), and a single mother (Jane Horrocks) who is a junior hairdresser at his salon.