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Though in a long term relationship with partner Lance insurance salesman Henry Best has a wandering eye and it particularly wanders over young canteen hand Freddie Baxter. Whilst hosting a corporate event Lance meets the attractive but apparently straight hunk Daniel while Freddie's flat-mate Dean asks Henry for advice regarding their accommodation. At a gay club Lance and Henry pull Francesco, a youngster visiting from Yorkshire, and go back to their flat though Lance shuts Henry out to have the boy for himself. Henry now knows how to get his revenge.
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Henry decides to add a few creature comforts to his sparse new accommodation but, following a colleague's suicide for which he was blamed, stays away from work and keeps his address a secret from Lance. Lance meanwhile goes for a drink with the desirable Daniel in whom he confides his lack of a decent sex life with Henry. Suspended from work Henry is annoyed to find that Freddie, who has ferociously warned him that he is out of bounds, has no such trouble entertaining his friend Cliff. Thanks to his sister Cleo's intervention he meets up with Lance n neutral ground with several revelations coming to the fore.
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Henry introduces Cleo to his flatmates, who are impressed by her and her enterprising son Adam though Cleo wants Henry to move out. Henry is annoyed to find that Lance has been going through their joint bank account and to make money uses Adam and another, straight, boy in erotic videos. The normally cool Freddie is shocked to run into former college lecturer and lover Gregory, now married, who still wants him. They go back to the apartment for sex but a fight breaks out as Freddie attempts to settle old scores and Henry helps him out, the youngster rewarding him with a blind date. Lance also shows up with a gift for Henry, having failed to get Daniel in bed.
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Romantic meetings are in the air as Henry goes on a blind date with eccentric, adoring Rupert, Cleo dines with married old flame Brian, Lance meets Peter, who shares his desire for Daniel and Freddie hooks up with Anna, sister of a former boyfriend. However when it gets to full sex not everybody makes first base. Freddie actually gets it together with a girl, Cleo and Brian have a heart to heart and part friends but Henry's sexual timidity sees off Rupert - though he does meet somebody else in Leigh. Lance finally gets what he wants but Dean goes through a bizarre role play in which he is kidnapped and treated as a sex slave.
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Powerless to retrieve the money Lance has taken from their joint account Henry finds his main source of income in the homo-erotic videos featuring nephew Adam and his friends - until Cleo puts her foot down. He also falls foul of Freddie's suspicious parents though Freddie himself is nicer to him. Lance is both intrigued and puzzled by the supposedly straight Daniel's ambiguous and domineering sexual attitudes towards him though captivated by his looks. Henry and Lance meet on neutral ground with Lance proposing to buy out Henry's share of their house. They recall happier times, the meeting causing Henry some regrets.
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Lance's life is chronicled, from his childhood and early upbringing when he realizes that he is gay and his first homosexual experience as a student. Moving to a flat in Manchester he meets Henry and they begin their relationship, Henry accompanies him to his father's funeral, before setting up house together. Having walked out on Lance Henry is now anxious for reconciliation but Lance refuses. Instead he goes clubbing with Daniel Coltrane and, despite a ghostly warning, returns to Daniel's flat for sex. However Daniel is tortured and dangerously unstable and disaster follows.
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Supported by his young flat-mates Henry attends Lance's funeral where he learns that Daniel, now in custody, had a history of instability and Cliff suggests how he might kill him. Afterwards Henry breaks down as he realizes now how much he misses Lance. Freddie is unusually sympathetic and offers to procure a hunk called Aiden for group sex. On the way to locate him several confessions are made but when they catch up with him he is a disappointment and they return home, where Freddie offers Henry another act of kindness. Next day, due to a scam by the landlord, they and their friends are evicted though fortunately Henry can move them into his old house.
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Henry proposes that all the evictees live in his house as his 'collective' and, backed by Cliff and Freddie, bluffs his way into getting his old job back. The group is also able to demolish Coltrane's statement that Lance was his first homosexual encounter, leading to a conviction for murder. Things turn sour when work colleague Veronica turns up, blaming Henry for Lance's death and eventually all the members of the collective move into their own accommodation. Last to leave is Freddie, after he has accused Henry of treating him like Lance, wanting him around but scared to have sex with him. Henry loses touch with Freddie until seven years later when they meet by chance and reflect on old times.
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