Life has not been kind to fat, unattractive Lawrence Prendergast. He has passed from bullied schoolboy to an oppressed and lonely adult. But with the passing of his disciplinarian father ¿ he can be himself. Someone is responsible for his life. Someone must be punished for the years of frustration and misery. The former headmaster, a former employer who delighted in humiliation and the beloved girl-friend who refused to have his child. So justice must be served ¿ slowly and surely.