The novel is set in the south of England in the summer of 1976.

Ex-biker and renegade philosopher Damon Snyder, at risk of being thrown out of his university post and deeply at odds with the culture around him, plans a philosophical project - a quasi-Heideggerian 'archaeology of the present' - to uncover his world's flaws and failings. He picks postgraduate student and mooncalf Matthew Gavigan as assistant, using his partner Mothy's unwitting friend Jinty Robinson to help draw him in.

The project is eccentric, with a rich cast participants, and becomes more and more chaotic as the summer wears on, with an increasingly heavy use of drugs. Snyder spirals towards psychosis after grossly abusing Mothy and destroying their relationship. Meanwhile Matthew and Jinty's affair is a bumpy one, nearly ending in an explosive falling-out.

At the end of the summer we see time-slice cameos of a collection of the major and minor characters. Matthew and Jinty, now reconciled, make love; Snyder leaves a psychiatric hospital after a short involuntary admission, already considering his next move.