One evening, Eleanor attends a pub charity night after winning tickets for the event from a work raffle. A local band (the Pilgrim Pioneers) are playing and Eleanor instantly falls in love with the lead singer. Handsome and immaculately dressed, Johnnie Lomond appears to meet all the criteria her mother told her she should look for in a man.
When Eleanor has problems with her computer at work she calls the new IT technician, Raymond Gibbons. Irritated by Raymond’s jokey voicemail greeting, she isn’t surprised when he turns out to be a scruffy, unattractive individual. Meanwhile, Eleanor decides that she should improve her own appearance if she is to catch the eye of Johnnie Lomond. She begins by going for a bikini wax but is horrified when the results of a ‘Hollywood’ are revealed. She also buys a laptop and a mobile phone so that she can follow Johnnie’s frequent posts on Twitter and Instagram.
Later in the week Eleanor is annoyed when Raymond Gibbons accompanies her down the street as they leave work. As Raymond does his best to make conversation, they see an elderly man stagger and fall over in the street. Eleanor disapprovingly observes that the old man must have been drinking but Raymond insists they should stop to help. On Raymond’s instructions Eleanor talks to the unconscious old man while Raymond calls an ambulance. When the emergency services arrive, Raymond accompanies the old man to hospital. Meanwhile, Eleanor is surprised to realise that she feels concerned about the stranger’s welfare.
Back at her flat, Eleanor receives a visit from June Mullen, a social worker. After leaving foster care, Eleanor was allocated her flat by social services and she receives six-monthly visits to check on her wellbeing. Eleanor tells June that she is still in weekly contact with her mother. She also confirms that she does not want to know any details about ‘the incident’ that led to her mother’s incarceration. During the interview June accidentally drops a sheet of paper from Eleanor’s file. When she has gone, Eleanor reads the paper, which is an account of a meeting between social services and Eleanor’s former foster parents, Mr and Mrs Reed. During the meeting the Reeds claimed that Eleanor was ‘insolent and rude’ and that she became hysterical when punished. The meeting concluded with the decision that Eleanor would be placed in a residential care home due to ‘challenging behaviour’.
Eleanor works out where Johnnie Lomond lives when he posts a photograph of the view from his apartment window on Twitter. She takes a rubbing of the brass nameplate on his door and listens outside his apartment to hear him sing.
Eleanor receives a call from Raymond who tells her that Sammy Thom (the elderly man who collapsed in the street) has regained consciousness. Eleanor reluctantly agrees to meet Raymond at the hospital to introduce themselves to the old man. When they arrive Sammy thanks them for their help and declares them to be ‘family’. Before they leave him, Sammy holds both of Eleanor’s hands and she is surprised to find the human contact pleasant.
On the way out of the hospital, Eleanor sees the date on a newspaper and realises that it is her birthday. This prompts a memory of her twenty-first birthday, when her boyfriend, Declan, savagely assaulted her. Raymond asks Eleanor if she would like to accompany him to visit his mother. Eleanor expects Raymond’s mother to be tedious company. She agrees, however, as she has rarely had the opportunity to see inside another person’s house.
Mrs Gibbons is crippled with arthritis but welcomes Eleanor warmly. Comfortable as she listens to Raymond and his mother chat, Eleanor comprehends that this is what normal family life feels like. When Raymond’s mother asks her about her family, Eleanor says that she is an only child and begins to cry. She goes on to explain that she never knew her father and describes her mother as ‘inaccessible’. Eleanor helps Raymond perform some chores and, before they go, Mrs Gibbons enthusiastically thanks Eleanor for her help, inviting her to come back any time. Eleanor realises that this is the second time in one day that she has received heartfelt thanks from a stranger.
Eleanor and Raymond return to the hospital to visit Sammy. Sammy introduces them to his adult children and tells them that he is going to move in with his daughter, Laura, for a couple of weeks while he recovers. Laura – a glamorous hairdresser – invites them both to the party she is throwing to celebrate. Eleanor notices that Raymond cannot take his eyes off Laura.
Realising that she has been distracted by recent events, Eleanor once again turns her attention to preparing for meeting Johnnie Lomond. She visits a nail bar but is disappointed by the experience. Back at home she receives an unexpected call from Mummy, who belittles her daughter and hints at how Eleanor acquired the scars on her face and hands.
Looking through a local newspaper on the way to work, Eleanor sees an advert for a gig featuring Johnnie Lomond and the Pilgrim Pioneers. Seeing that the gig is taking place that night, Eleanor decides to seize the day. After work she goes to a department store and, with the help of a store assistant, buys a fashionable outfit to wear. She also goes for a makeover in the cosmetics department. After her first visit to a fast-food restaurant, she arrives at the gig venue only to discover that the tickets are sold out.
Dismayed to find that she is unable to buy vodka in the corner shop before 10 a.m., Eleanor visits the local Tesco store to stock up on supplies. Here she spots Johnnie Lomond and follows him around the aisles to the checkout. Eleanor resists speaking to the singer but later tweets him to recommend he signs up for a Tesco Club Card. Johnnie sends a rude reply accusing her of marketing on the supermarket’s behalf.
Eleanor and Raymond go to Laura’s party together. Eleanor has taken Laura’s assurance that they need not bring anything literally and turns up empty-handed. Raymond covers for her, claiming that the flowers and wine he has brought are from them both. Eleanor notes that Laura’s home is as ‘shiny’ as its owner and feels ‘dull’ in comparison. After several glasses of Prosecco, Eleanor and Raymond go into the garden. They share a bottle of wine and Raymond confides that his previous girlfriend ended their three-year relationship claiming that he was ‘too nice’. In return, Eleanor tells Raymond that her live-in boyfriend, Declan, regularly assaulted and emotionally abused her. She finally ended the relationship when he broke her arm (for a second time) and a hospital nurse counselled her on domestic abuse. Raymond calls Eleanor a taxi. As she gets in, she sees Laura approaching Raymond with two glasses of Prosecco.
Eleanor takes the afternoon off work to have her hair cut at Laura’s salon. The intimate sensation of having her head touched brings back the vague memory of gently combing the hair of a younger child. Transformed by her new hairstyle, Eleanor cries and thanks Laura for making her ‘shiny’.
Back at work, Eleanor’s boss, Bob, offers her promotion to office manager. Unsure of whether to accept, Eleanor invites Raymond to lunch to talk over the job offer. Raymond advises her to take the promotion, pointing out that it will look good on her CV when she decides to move on to bigger things. Eleanor realises for the first time that opportunities beyond her limited existence are possible.
When Raymond is invited to the fortieth birthday party of Sammy’s son, Keith, Eleanor agrees to go with him. Appreciating that she made a faux pas by arriving at Laura’s party empty-handed, she takes half a bottle of vodka and a packet of cheese slices to present to Keith. At the party, Eleanor is persuaded to dance. Although initially afraid of making a fool of herself, she finds the experience strangely liberating. When one of the male guests offers to buy her a drink she declines. After queuing for the ladies’ room, Eleanor returns to her table to find that Raymond has disappeared. She sees him slow dancing with Laura and decides to go home.
Eleanor goes for a second department store makeover and buys the cosmetics to create the same effect at home. When she arrives at work, her colleagues comment enthusiastically and kindly on her transformed appearance.
Eleanor again meets Raymond for lunch. She tells him she has decided to accept the promotion and he warmly congratulates her. As they are talking, a baby starts crying in the café, reminding Eleanor of a time when her mother left her alone with a baby without food in the house. That evening, Eleanor hears from her mother. Mummy advises Eleanor to hasten her pursuit of Johnnie Lomond or she will try to ‘engineer’ a visit to help her with her project. Terrified at the prospect, Eleanor tells her mother that won’t be necessary. Johnny Lomond sends a tweet announcing that he is leaving