Sean Bean's character (Ian) is lonely and depressed because he lost his job, and his wife (Emma, played by Nicola Walker) is busy with her career. He tends to start awkward conversations with strangers in public, including a girl that works at the leisure centre he goes to, who feels creeped out by him; and a man that works in the Co-Op.
He goes to a job interview and gets into an argument with the receptionist, because the lift was dirty and had tomato ketchup on the mirror.
He thinks Emma is having an affair with her boss (she isn't). He tries to phone Emma when she's at a work conference with her boss, but her phone is turned off. He takes this to mean that she is up to no good (in reality, the battery had died). He goes to the car park in the middle of the night and smashes up the boss's car. When Emma returns from her conference, they have a row and Ian breaks down crying. She comforts him.
The boss himself (Jamie) is quite a detestable character who provides some interesting scenes. He clearly has some issues and treats Emma quite poorly, and at one point he screams in her face after she asked him a simple question. He sleeps with the teenage work experience girl, and brings cocaine to the work conference. The dad of the girl turns up to confront him at his office.
Their adopted daughter Jess's boyfriend is a control freak who puts her down all the time. There is a scene where he antagonizes at an MP in the middle of the street, calling him "Tory scum". Jess ditches him and goes on a date with a waiter she just met, which lasts for hours and she seems forget about her job for it (she told him she has work at 3pm, but the date seems to go on until late into the evening). She moves out of her boyfriend's house and goes to stay with her parents for a bit.
Ian bonds with Jess and they talk about her adoption and childhood. It makes Ian feel happier.
The couple had a son called Nicholas, who died not long after being born.
Also, Emma has a dad and a brother. The brother disappears after the first episode.
There was also a random scene where the woman who interviewed Ian for a job gets into a minor car crash. I thought that was an unnecessary scene which added nothing.
In the end, Ian and Emma lay in bed and discuss how they are lucky to have each other...
I think it could have definitely worked better if it had been scaled down to 30 minute-ish episodes.
