Janis Mary Finch begins her story in contemporary Birmingham, England, at the motorway cafe where she often flees from the arguments at home. Her father deserted the family, and her depressed mother found a live-in boyfriend some months ago. Finch could cope with the situation before the boyfriend came, but now she cannot live with what she interprets as his interference in her caring relationship with her mother. Finch meets the band one night when she storms out after another argument, one in which the boyfriend supports her mother's rebuke for Finch's skipping school.

Finch is consoling herself with black coffee and a rainy view of passing truck traffic when the four male musicians who comprise the band "Kelp" burst into the cafe. When her angry mood causes her to match Christie stare for stare, and to taunt and sing for him right there, he invites her to...