Four depressed people meet by accident on a London rooftop, each preparing to jump and end it all. Struck by the coincidence--and bonded by their mutual despair--each of the four agrees to put off the deadly deed, reevaluate things, and get together to talk it over. As time goes by, friendships and enmities form, and the course of their lives is irrevocably changed. Nick Hornby looks at this situation with a determined lack of sentimentality, and even with some humor.