It's 1979 and the British punk / mod music scene is in full swing. Clark Gable has broken away from the claustrophobic environment of loving family and small town Dover to study at Red Brick College in Birmingham. Clark's chaotic passage through the first year of a 3 year engineering degree course is set to a backing track of The Jam, for him the lyrics are real and apply directly to his life. Studying takes a back seat as he stumbles in and out of relationships looking for love. Before long he's skint and in trouble with the Police and the college authorities. Most of the action centres around the college campus but in later chapters Clark spends disastrous weekends away; in Warwickshire at a 'Young Farmers' ball, in Wakefield visiting his new girlfriends parents and in South Wales with his dubious mate, Rhodri. Will he find the curry sauce to spice up his pie?