N has been a day patient at north London's Dorothy Fish day hospital for 13 years - her ambition is never to leave. Then she meets glamourous new patient Poppy Shakespeare, an ad agency receptionist convinced she's not mad.
Two boys, still grieving the death of their mother, find themselves the unwitting benefactors of a bag of bank robbery loot in the week before the United Kingdom switches its official currency to the Euro. What's a kid to do?
Whitechapel works as a slave on a Virginia plantation; he has been given the name of his owner, Mr Whitechapel. The plantation's overseer is the violent and hard-drinking Sanders, embittered by the death of his wife. When Whitechapel's beautiful young bride attracts Sanders's attention, the stage is set for a tragedy that spans generations.
Racism on a British Army Base is making life hell for Charlie, a newly-promoted black corporal. He has been keeping his head down, but now he can no longer avoid taking action. A mythic battle commences.