The Plot       

Chapter

Plot, Characters, Setting ...

1

Marcus, a 12-year-old boy is introduced, who lives alone with his mother Fiona in London. They have just moved from Cambridge. His parents are separated and Fiona has just split up with her ex-boyfriend. The reader is informed about Marcus’ life before and after the separation.

2

Will Freeman is a 36-year-old single who lives in London. He isn’t really grown-up yet and he doesn’t have to work, because he gets enough money from the royalties of a popular Christmas carol his father once wrote.Besides, he is not the family type. He doesn’t like children and doesn’t want to get married. Will cares very much for his outward appearance. He thinks that his appearance impresses women and makes him interesting for them. Will thinks about himself as being very cool. This is proven by a questionnaire in a magazine, the result of which says that Will’s coolness quotient is even “sub-zero”.

3

Marcus is different from normal kids. He looks different and behaves differently from other children. Marcus is very shy and doesn’t have any friends.
He doesn’t seem to be “ right” for school, because of his clothes and his haircut.Therefore, nobody likes him. He is always the person to laugh at. Quite often, at night Marcus can’t sleep. He thinks about his life and his problems especially at school.One morning, at school, while the teacher tries to get a discussion going, Marcus suddenly starts singing out loud. He does this whenever he is nervous. The other students shriek with laughter.

4

Will meets his new girl-friend Angie, a single mother with two children.Though he doesn’t like children, he doesn’t mind going on an outing with them from time to time and, above all,  he likes having sex with Angie. 
However, it is Angie who finishes the relationship because of her “situation”. At this point, Will develops an interest in single mothers, because they are easy to please.

5

Marcus` mother starts crying in the morning. He realizes it is a bad sign but doesn´t know the reason. At school he wants to talk to his friends Nicky and Mark, but they don´t want to speak with him, because whenever they do, they get problems with a boy who doesn’t like Marcus. Marcus is often bullied at school, because of his singing and his weird outward appearance.

6

Will goes to SPAT ( Single Parents - Alone Together) and pretends to be a single father with a two-year-old son whose mother has left him. On his first visit to SPAT he is not very enthusiastic, but he meets Suzie there and gets very interested in her.

7

Returning home from a visit to his father in Cambridge for the weekend, Marcus finds his mother lying on the floor covered with a coat watching children’s cartoons. He is very worried about his mother’s state of health.
A few days later, Fiona asks him to go on a picnic with Suzie, one of her girlfriends. Actually Marcus doesn’t want to go, but his mother wants to be alone at home. Marcus gives in to please her.

8

Will continues his role as a single father. He meets Marcus on the outing with Suzie at  Regent´s park on a Saturday afternoon. Will thinks about a way to ´kill´ Ned, his imaginary son. He decides to leave him with his ex-wife Paula so he doesn´t have to “let him die” in a car accident or something else. He also admits Suzie that he doesn´t work and lives off the royalties from a famous Christmas song written by his father. As Will and Suzie relax near a pond talking about their lives, Marcus kills a duck with a French loaf. (Julia Bauch)

9

Will helps Marcus explaining the killing to the park-keeper. In this scene Will is very understanding. As Will and Suzie take Marcus home they see Fiona lying on the floor. She has tried to commit suicide.  Despite Marcus’ vast experience with violent movies, this is the “scariest thing he’d had ever seen, by a million miles, and he knew the moment he walked in that it was something he’d have to think about forever” (p. 58).

10

They call an ambulance and Marcus, “the oldest twelve year old boy in world”, is very confused and shocked . Will feels very awkward because he isn´t sure how to handle this situation. He doesn´t know what to say and to do with Marcus. Fiona has to stay in hospital for one night while Marcus stays at Suzie’s.

11

On the kitchen table Marcus finds a melodramatic farewell-letter Fiona has written on “the day of the dead duck”. After having returned from hospital Fiona seems th be even more depressive than before. Marcus is extremely irritated about the letter and the whole situation. He feels obliged to look after his mother like a grown up. As a matter of fact, the whole situation demands too much from him.

12

Will is taking life easy. He doesn´t have to work because he earns enough money from the royalties, he is hanging around all day watching TV and videos, driving around in his great car. He copes with the days by dividing them into 30-minute units and filling them with activities. “He had reached a stage where he wondered how his friends could juggle life and a job”(p.72) Nevertheless, his so-called friendships are superficial because actually he is not really interested  in people. Marcus and Fiona bring a lot of trouble into his system of living. However, he seems to be pleased about this situation.

13

Marcus decides to bring Will and his mother together but Fiona isn´t sure about Marcus´s plans. She doesn´t really want to go out with Will because he isn´t the kind of man she really likes. Marcus wants to go to Planet Hollywood. Will and Fiona are not happy about this decision but Marcus insists on this restaurant. Marcus tries to initiate a conversation but nobody wants to speak. So they sit there, eat and go home again. In Marcus´s eyes it is a disastrous evening.

14

Will hates this evening and feels awkward because normally he is only interested in the sexual side of life, but Fiona absolutely  isn´t his type.
A few days later Will is invited to Fiona and Marcus for coffee. Fiona and Marcus want to entertain him and sing to Fiona´s playing on the piano. Will feels unpleasant and longs for getting home. So he leaves early. Marcus is a bit angry about this and decides to visit Will the next day. He walks through Will´s flat and finds out that Will doesn´t have a son at all. Will doesn´t seem to care about “the fact that the truth is out” but feels a  panic rising because all his cool life is in great danger.

15

Because of the sympathy he feels for Will, Marcus does not want to tell his mum and Suzie about Will´s lie about his ex and Ned. Marcus begins to visit Will regularly, to watch “Countdown” and other programmes and to talk to him. At the beginning they struggle to get used to each other, but soon they manage.

16

Although Will sometimes goes out before Marcus comes to visit him, he most of the time is home at four-fifteen, waiting for the buzzer. Sometimes he gets the impression that he owes Marcus something. 
One day when waiting for Marcus, there is a continuous, urgent-sounding and annoying ring on the doorbell. Marcus has been followed by some schoolmates who bombard him with confectionery. After having taken the boys to ask them about their aggressive behaviour, Will realizes that Marcus is different and he wants to help him. So he buys him a pair of trainers and feels very good afterwards for his generosity.

17

Marcus tells his mum about his visits to Will and that he does not have a kid at all. Fiona is upset. They go to Will´s flat. Fiona even accuses Will of being homosexual, but he makes clear to her that he only tries to help Marcus who appreciates Will and sees a kind of father in him. Fiona does not know what Marcus really needs, so she is against the friendship to Will. Marcus has become more critical towards Fiona than he used to be. (Sebastian Reich)

18

Will does not like the time before Christmas, he dislikes the song “Santa´s Super Sleigh” and he hates the people who play this song every year already in November.
Fiona comes to Will, because she wants to talk to him and they go aout for a drink. She admits that Marcus needs “male company”. This is the first conversation between Will and Fiona which Will really enjoys.

19

Marcus has to see the headmistress because of his stolen trainers. In front of the room he meets Ellie McCrae from year ten. Similar to Marcus, Ellie is different from the others. She is a famous, scruffy girl using black lipstick who denies wearing the school sweater and who “is always in trouble for something or other” (p.135). Marcus musters the courage to talk to her and she doesn’t let him down. Marcus feels more self-confident and during the conversation with the headmistress he is brave enough to simply walk out the way he had come into the office. He even leaves the school building and does not return to his lesson.

20

The same afternoon Will drives around London and sees Marcus ambling down Upper Street. He is surprised about the affection that he feels for Marcus although it is not enough to make him stop the car. But he feels he is interested in helping Marcus to be a real kid. Later on, Marcus visits Will again to tell him about his conversation with Ellie.

21

Marcus talks to Ellie again and this is the longest conversation he has ever had in school for weeks. The next day it happens again. This time he does not only talk to Ellie, but also to her friend Zoe. Ellie even invites him to come into her classroom and they talk again. A friendship begins.

22

Will spends Christmas Eve with Marcus, Fiona, Marcus’ father and his new girlfriend. He is very surprised about the presents they give to each other.
Marcus is very thankful about the horrible presents given to him by Fiona.Will wonders about Marcus´ thankfulness. The whole Christmas Eve is a disaster.

23

Fiona is very angry about Clive because he rolls a joint during the Christmas party.After dinner Suzie joins the party together with her daughter Megan.
Suzie tries to ignore Will because she is still angry about him due to his lie at SPAT. After a strange discussion with Fiona and Suzie, Will leaves the party.
Marcus tries to stop him, because he is his guest and not his mother’s.

24

On a New Year’s Eve party Will meets Rachel and falls in love with her.Rachel tells Will about her son Ali who is twelve years old like Marcus.Will decides not to bring him (Ned) back to life, although it would be “an interesting topic” (p.173). He is really fond of Rachel and wants to be honest.This is the first time Will begins to doubt his own life. (Kai Barthel)

25

Marcus meets Ellie who is at Suzie’s  New Year’s Eve party, too. He is surprised about the fact that Ellie’s mother is a really good friend of Suzie. Marcus talks with Ellie the whole evening and he really enjoys it. They talk about the year 1993. Ellie knows that Fiona has tried to commit suicide.

26

The chapter starts with a “serious” talk between Marcus and Will  about women “in general”.
Later they visit Rachel and her son Ali. After a short introduction Rachel suggests to the boys that they hang out up in Ali’s room for a while,while Will and Rachel  have a talk in the kitchen. But the boys soon have an argument and ten minutes later Marcus leaves the house for good.

27

The reader is told that Ali hates Marcus for the visit. He doesn’t want Will and Rachel to be together because he is very jealous and he doesn’t want to share his mother with somebody else. Therefore Marcus leaves the house. Rachel tells Ali to apologize and he obeys her.One day after school, Marcus is bullied again but Ellie helps him. Now he realizes that Ellie really likes him.

28

The relationship between Will and Rachel gets closer. Will tells her that Marcus isn’t his son. They eat out in a restaurant and later have a coffee at Rachel’s house.They have a long talk and Will seems to have changed.

29

Marcus thinks about his changed life. Everything seems to be better since he has known Will. The visits to his flat have become routine.He also realizes that the friendship with Ellie is becoming more intense.Ellie is very sad about Kurt Cobain’s suicide attempt. That is the reason why Marcus and Ellie have a  conservation.

30

After the last talk with Marcus about Fiona, Will has feelings of uneasiness. For the first time he thinks about his behaviour. The relation between Rachel and Will becomes deeper. Finally they have sex, which makes Will very happy.

31

Fiona wants Marcus to see his father in Cambridge, who has had an accident doing DIY. He refuses. The next day he speaks with Ellie about it. She offers him to go with him, if he wants. He agrees.On the way to Cambridge Marcus sees an article in the newspaper which reports the death of Kurt Cobain. He doesn’t want Ellie to see this. Later she says that she has already known about it, takes out a bottle of vodka and wants to get drunk. /Sabrina Pohl)

32

Rachel, Fiona and Will want to meet in a pub, but Rachel doesn’t turn up. Suddenly Fiona begins to cry and starts telling him about her life and her problems. Will suddenly realizes that he  doesn’t feel uneasy any more listening to her. Back in Fiona’s flat they listen to the answer phone : Marcus is in a police station in Royston.

33

Ellie and Marcus are on the train to Cambridge. They talk about Kurt Cobain and their lives in general. In Royston Ellie suddenly jumps out of the train. Marcus follows her. In front of a shop she sees a big figure of Kurt Cobain. She gets angry and smashes the shop-window and takes it out, because she is of the opinion that the shop owner wants to make money of his death. They are arrested.

34

Will, Fiona and Ellie`s mum Catherine go to Cambridge to pick up Marcus and Ellie at the police station. Will feels pleasant and calm in contrast to the women. Having fixed the trouble with the broken window, they take Ellie and Marcus back. Marcus contradicts Fiona, because he has recently matured a lot.

35

For the rest of the weekend Marcus stays with Clive and Lindsey in Cambridge. The others drive back to London.In the evening Marcus has a conversation with his father who seems to be miserable. As usual Clive rolls himself a joint. Marcus tells his father what he thinks of him and Clive admits that he regrets having left his family. 

36

Marcus has changed. Now he wears better clothes and has a regular hair-cut. Fiona and Rachel have become friends. Will goes out with Marcus and Ali regularly. Fiona also thinks that Marcus has become much older, so she feels better herself. Everyone has changed for the better. (Ismihan Gülec)