After their father's death, brothers Wilbur [Jamie Sives] and Harbour [Adrian Rawlins] inherit a second-hand bookshop in Glasgow. Wilbur is a melancholy chap who has tried to kill himself many times and his latest in a series of a suicide attempts finds him in hospital where a psychologist called Horst [Mads Mikkelsen] and the head nurse, Moira [Julia Davis], decide what he needs is a girlfriend. It is Harbour however who finds himself a girlfriend first. He falls for Alice [Shirley Henderson], a bashful yet intense woman who works as a cleaner in the hospital and also sells books. The three become very close and their friendship brings out the best in them - Wilbur starts to find some joy in life, Alice feels less shy and Harbour is overspilling with happiness. But there is a dark secret just around the corner.