The protagonist, Miles Plastic, is an orphan who, at the beginning of the story, is finishing a prison term for arson.

Crime is treated very leniently by the state, and conditions in prison are actually quite superior to those among the population at large, leading to an understandably high recidivism rate.

The centres are not restricted to the terminally ill and are so popular that Plastic's sole responsibility is to stem "the too eager rush" of perfectly healthy but "welfare weary" citizens.

One day, however, she suddenly disappears, and when he finds her, she has a rubber jaw replacing her formerly bearded face.

Sent to become a lecturer on the worthiness of the prison system, Plastic is directed to marry an unattractive civil servant.