A group of twenty-something friends are about to discover that life hinges on the smallest twists of fate. "It all comes down to chance," says cash-strapped porn journalist and full-time charmer Nathan. After all, he would never have even met Fi if Jase hadn't almost run her over in his van. But then maybe Nathan would have asked Fi out himself if Jase hadn't happened to get there first. Now, Fi and Jase are an item and both of them are best mates with Nathan. But chance and coincidence might just tear them apart during a heady night out on the tiles in Manchester. When Nathan accidentally chats up a bouncer's girlfriend, the trio are forced to flee from a bar. Fi loses her keys in the frantic rush and then gets separated from Jase at a party. She turns up at Nathan's flat, where she and Nathan wind up in a compromising situation that's complicated by the later arrival of a very messed-up Jase. The three of them must struggle to come to terms with a shockingly eventful evening that looks set to change their lives for good.
Nathan's heart is not quite broken but definitely bent out of shape when Fi says they can't be more than friends. Still, he knows it's probably for the best. It doesn't take long for him to turn his attentions towards Rosa, who thinks that Nathan is - literally - a gift from God. While Fi is keen to patch things up with Jase, he's still carrying on behind her back with good-time boy Mani. Can Jase juggle the two relationships or will he come a cropper? On the work front, Nathan develops a sideline in printing and distributing prostitutes' cards. It earns him a few bob but also attracts the suspicion of his boss Peggy. And hell hath no fury like a porn baroness scorned...
When an angry Rosa tells Nathan that he's given her an STD, he foresees a whole world of trouble - if he's given it to Fi, she could have given it to Jase, and then Jase will know that his best mate's been shagging his girlfriend. Added to Nathan's troubles is his latest assignment from Peggy: a hands-on, no-holds-barred account of the Swinging scene - no spectating allowed. Nathan's not exactly 'match fit', but when he confides in his male-to-female transsexual colleague Fay, she tells him that it's Fi he should be worried about... But it looks like Fi is already infected... which means it's only a matter of time until Jase finds out the truth - and then 'To Swing or Not To Swing' will be the least of Nathan's problems...
Nathan's got a pocketful of recreational hard-on pills and a date with a prominent porn star - life's looking up... or at least it is until his Dad George suddenly arrives to steal both his date and his medication. George has led a very full life, which is just as well as it's an evening that ends in tragedy when he collapses mid-romp - and can't be prised off his porn star lover. The pills are clearly cursed. Nathan's donated some to Jase to helps spice up his sex life with Fi - the passion seems to have gone, even though Jase has finished with Mani. But unfortunately Fi doesn't seem to agree that a 36-hour hard-on is the right remedy for a relationship on the wane...
Jase is in a coma and it's not at all clear if he's going to pull through - which is why Nathan decides he's got to do whatever it takes to stop Fi finding out what Jase was really up to just before he stepped out in front of the car. If Jase dies, at least she'll have her memories... But Nathan has let himself in for more than he bargains for when he has to keep Jase's new friend Jemima the Drag Queen, and new drug dealer Derek away from Fi. In his head he's just rewriting history to give it some Hollywood gloss… But when Fi starts to think that Jase tried to top himself out of love for her, and the nursing staff begin to wonder if Jase and Nathan are more than just friends, it looks like Nathan may once again have taken things far too far...
As Nathan rushes to tell Fi the truth about Jase's sexuality, there's two versions of events. There's the one where he tells her. And the whole sado-masochistic love triangle with four people in it comes crashing down in several completely unexpected and disastrous ways. Then there's the other version, where he doesn't make the bus, but instead gets in a fight with Derek the anal retentive drug dealer and ends up covered in paint. In this version, instead of telling Fi he loves her, he ends up owning a cancerous rabbit called Mrs Snuggles - but does he get the girl? Which one happened? You'll have to wait to find out...