Hopkins enters the doctor's waiting room and sits in the only available seat. As the room empties, he is faced with a dilemma - should he continue sitting right next to the ginger-haired girl when there are other seats available, or should he move and risk appearing hostile?

He gets up to fetch a magazine and sits in a different seat, which makes her think he's jumping the queue. A conversation ensues, during which he falsely claims that he's never been to Newcastle. He has no idea why he has denied this, and when she emerges from her appointment he attempts to set the record straight. She has other things to worry about.

In the doctor's surgery, it is established that despite Hopkins being a regular visitor for two years with a variety of complaints, they all appear to be psychosomatic, as outwardly he is a successful polytechnic lecturer with, if not a wife, at least a regular sexual partner. The doctor prescribes a different antidepressant.

On the bus, Hopkins reads a book by Virginia Woolf. He accidentally starts a conversation with a girl sitting near him and awkwardly extricates himself. When a black woman sits next to him, he worries whether his moving away from her to increase available space will be considered racist.

Hopkins meets his mother in the café. She criticises his diet and lifestyle and questions him about his girlfriend. He asks her why she called him Trevor, and complains that no-one of any note has gone by that name. She says that the managing director of Keyser Bondor is called Trevor, and in any case it's a better name than Doris (hers).

A woman enters the café and waves. Hopkins' mother, correctly surmising that she's his girlfriend, asks her name - Wendy - and criticises her trousers, wondering if she's a lesbian. Hopkins quickly establishes that she doesn't really know what a lesbian is.

After his mother has left, Wendy goes over to Hopkins' table. He tells her about his mother's 'lesbian' relationship (she shared a bed with Aunt Phyllis during an air raid). Wendy is thrilled, as she's concerned that people who should be closest to each other are often the furthest apart. She wants to discuss their relationship, but Hopkins prefers to get to his lecture on time.

The latter is sabotaged from the start when he unfurls posters of E.M.Forster and Virginia Woolf to reveal crude graffiti. He tries to incorporate this into his lecture by defending it as legitimate artistic expression, but his largely elderly class prefer to regard it as vandalism of council property.

Dave Skinner, the youngest and brightest of Hopkins' students, argues that the graffiti hints that the writers' work is deficient in some vital particular. The lecture is constantly interrupted by fellow student Maureen's tendency to look up every long word in the dictionary. Hopkins tells her that the definition of 'life' is more important, and she duly reads out the standard definition in a dull monotone.

At the end of the class, Skinner stays on, and invites Hopkins for a drink. Hopkins is busy with Wendy and has to say no. He asks Skinner why he bothers to come to the classes, as he's so clearly brighter than the others. It's either this or watching television at home, Skinner says, before asking whether Virginia Woolf's life was ultimately worth it.

Following a trip to a public lavatory where his inability to pee in the presence of others attracts unwelcome attention, Hopkins goes to see Wendy, who is clearly interested in marriage. She wishes people were more open about nakedness, but he thinks he is defined by his clothes. They undress, alternately switching the light on (Wendy) and off (Trevor). He quietly leaves after she's gone to sleep.

On the bus home, he is caught staring at a couple canoodling, and is punched in the face. He gets off at the local hospital and runs into Skinner. While the latter fetches coffee, a woman points out that blood is dripping onto Hopkins' book. Months later, he will look at these bloodstains and realise that his life has turned a corner.