Andy dreams of leopards. When he has unprotected sex with a man tattooed from head to foot with animals, he believes he may be pregnant. Meanwhile Penny, the young woman whose council house he shares, has started an affair with a club-footed body builder whom Andy believes is beneath her. Their street, Phoenix Court, abounds with secrets and suspicion. All the while, Penny's mother, the transvestite Liz, lies in a coma in Bishop Auckland hospital. While the street waits to see her wake and hear what it is like on the other side, Andy runs away to Edinburgh to sample the wicked delights of the city and to give birth to Jep, his leopard child. Paul Magrs blends acute observation of the humdrum with an exceptional understanding of the foibles and aspirations of his characters, creating a unique world in which the arrival of milkmen and buses may be predictable, but life isn't.