In 1977, Chris (Christian Bale) and Marion (Emily Watson) are leading a peaceful married life with their child in Eastwood in the London suburbs known as Metroland, the staid commuter region at the end of the London Underground's Metropolitan Line. Their stagnant life is disrupted by an early morning phone call from Chris's childhood friend Toni (Lee Ross), who has returned to England after several years of travelling through Africa, Europe, and the United States as a bohemian poet. Years before, the two shared a dream of escaping boring suburban existence to live in avant-garde splendor in Paris. Toni's return sparks memories in Chris about their wild days in Paris in the late 1960s.