Struggling comedian James Mullinger (based on the eponymous, real-life comedian) has come to a crossroads in his life; no one wants to see him perform, his wife is fed up, and his day time boss has given him an ultimatum - take a promotion and never do stand up again, or stick to the comedy and lose his job. To add salt to the wound, his boss sends him to L.A. to interview some of the greatest comedians alive for the magazine. Through spending time with his former heroes, a faint glimmer of his passion for stand-up comedy begins to stir again...

An aspiring poet in 1950s New York has his ordered world shaken when he embarks on a week-long retreat to save his hell raising hero, Dylan Thomas.

Clumsy Raif Moyle returns to Cheshire for the wedding of his elder brother Tim to Saskia, their old school-friend, who was something of a wild child in the past. To the mild consternation of Saskia's socially-conscious mother Alex Raif proposes that, in addition to his duties as best man, he will make a video of events leading up to, and including, the wedding. This means he spends a lot of time with Saskia and begins to realize that, beneath the surface, the happy event may turn out to be less than happy for all concerned. Fortunately a wedding does eventually take place with surprises all round, the biggest one coming from Alex.

In the Midlands, two men and a boy are on losing streaks: Richard has a dead-end job, and his wife leaves him because he's inattentive and has a juvenile obsession for 11th-century battle reenactments. His best friend Julian still lives with mum and divides his obsessions between Vikings and Star Trek. Then there's Richard's son Martin, picked on at school in part because of his father's hobby. Richard vows to win back the heart of his ex, Julian may have met someone online who shares his interests, and Martin wants to stand up to bullies. All get bad advice, which they act on. Is there any hope for any of them?