Harry Silver is a successful television producer about to turn 30.

He is happily married, has a four-year-old son and drives a convertible sports car.

Then he spends the night with a colleague from work and his life falls apart; his wife leaves him and emigrates to Japan, he loses his job and he has to cope with being a single parent.

[2][3] A BBC One adaptation of the book was aired in 2002 starring Ioan Gruffudd and Elizabeth Mitchell.

In 2003 a sequel was released, Man and Wife, followed in 2010 by Men From the Boys to complete the trilogy.