The play begins with Alice and Dan in the midst of a budding relationship brought on from a car crash that Dan witnessed. Alice is wounded and he is there to be the hero. This is interpreted to show that is attracted to mere moments to guide his entire life rather than thinking of the consequences of leaving his current girlfriend, Ruth. His behavior flows over into his relationship with Alice who he leaves for Anna. We see that a man who is not whole and doesn't seek to become whole will only continue his hurting people. And, the fact that he never stops to consider how he's hurt anyone reveals the deep and pitiful selfishness that has destroyed his heart, and truly his ability to write, as he has no true understanding of words as truth--only as manipulation for what he wants.
Marber then takes us through a pinball effort of back and forths between the four main characters who switch partners so often it's dizzying. And the fact that they don't just leave each other alone and find new people shows that they are gluttons for punishment. And on the other side of the coin are terrified to admit who they are and how their actions are destroying their lives. These actions lead essentially to a bomb-dropping moment at the end of the play.
Alice is with Larry. They've split up and just learned that Alice is dead. Dan comes and Larry doesn't stay. Anna sits with Dan to hear him speak of his girlfriend, Ruth having fallen in love with, married and having children with a poet whose work she adores. She has found the man that he hoped to be, that his heart cries to become, but instead he is taking a trip alone to identify Alice's body, a woman he used for years, and he leaves Anna--another woman he used--completely alone. The play shows the inherently ruinous effects of lust, selfishness and betrayal to one another as human beings and to our nature to live a full life.
