Oscar is a British sewage tanker driver, listening to educated chatter on BBC 4 while motoring from one place to another emptying sewer tanks. His ultimate goal is to write romance novels, which he carries with him during the workday.

His simple life is severely complicated by a woman named Betty Black, who he met at a gathering of the Southleigh Arts and Poetry Society. She quickly reveals herself to be pushy, possessive, snobby, and sexually frustrated, as she repeatedly attempts to force herself upon poor Oscar.

He becomes involved with several women, bicycles to France via the Newscastle ferry, and opines at length about Amazon’s monopoly of the publishing world. It’s disjointed and confusing, but also amusing.