Rob Fleming is a 35-year-old man who owns a record shop in London. He reveals that his “all time, top five most memorable split-ups” (3) are Alison Ashworth, Penny Hardwick, Jackie Allen, Charlie Nicholson, and Sarah Kendrew. Not included in the top five is his most recent girlfriend, Laura. Rob provides the details of each of these break ups.

Alison and Rob grew up together as young teenagers in suburban England in the early 1970s. They kissed and dated for a few days, but then she developed an interest in one of Rob’s friends. Although their relationship lasted a matter of hours, Rob still feels hurt by what he regards as Alison’s betrayal and “all [of Rob’s] other romantic stories seem to be a scrambled version of that first one” (9).

Rob describes Penny as a nice, wholesome girl who he dated a year after Alison. He broke up with Penny because she did not want to have sex with him, but now regrets the immature way in which he told her. Penny cried and Rob hated her for making him feel guilty. He dated another girl and, soon after, Penny had sex with one of Rob’s friends.