Meet James Shelley. A highly educated student and bone-idle skiver, he spends his days pondering the philosophical implications of like whilst dodging the bureaucratic machinery that has the gall to insist that he actually work for a living. He lives in a little North London bedsit with his girlfriend Fran, but his days of continued slothfulness may be coming to an end - after 74 weeks on the dole the authorities view him as something of a challenge and are determined to make him work. Add to that his impending fatherhood and marriage to Fran and it's no wonder that Shelley feels persecuted!