Nick hasn't yet managed to achieve much in his life except a good set of pecs. At thirty-five he has a grotty flat, a stationary car, a teenage son he doesn't know all that well, an ex-girlfriend, Barney's mother, who hates his guts, and no proper job. Then one of the organisers of a women's conference invites him to San Francisco. She wants him to be a padded assailant, the man inside the hard plastic who beats up women for a living every day. Why not? Though the self-defence classes she runs sound a bit weird, it's a free trip to the States. But Nick has no idea what he's getting into.