Douglas has PSP - Progressive Supranuclear Palsy. He's terminal. Resigned to his fate, with only Death on his mind, he tries to live out his days, isolating himself as far as possible - except for Colin. Yet his fragile shell collapses when he collides with Sally, a widowed GP, her neurosurgeon daughter, Emma, and her husband, David, an eminent KC. Everything changes, everything stays the same. Teaching civility to hooray Henrys, smug street preachers, cheery priests, karaoke, and stand-up comedy combine to alter everyone's world in ways they could never have imagined. The right to die, the demands of organised religion, the failure of pusillanimous politicians, the struggle of modern medicine to defeat a vicious, entirely unforgiving disease are all placed under a merciless microscope as Douglas - with a little help from his friends - goes none too quietly into that good night.
