Sammy, a 38-year old unemployed Scotsman and petty criminal, wakes up in the gutter on a Sunday morning in Glasgow after a weekend of heavy drinking. He has a run-in with the police and finds himself in a police cell having lost his eyesight, apparently in the brawl. He remembers little about the weekend, except that he went out drinking with some friends following an argument with his girlfriend Helen, who he lives with.

The novel tells of Sammy's experiences over the following week, as he struggles to cope with his blindness, the attentions of the police and the bureaucracy of lodging a claim for dysfunctional benefit. To add to this, Helen has disappeared without a trace.

The police are interested in Sammy due to his association with Charlie Barr, a political activist and terrorist who it is believed Sammy met up with over the weekend. Sammy claims to remember little about the meeting, but the police persist, releasing Sammy only to re-arrest him for further interrogation later in the week. Sammy has been in prison in the past for his involvement in crime, and he is frightened of being imprisoned again. Finally, with the help of his son, Sammy escapes from Glasgow with the intention of starting a new life in England.