Computer Industry Tycoon Gordon Way is worried that his sister Susan Way's boyfriend, freelance software designer Richard MacDuff, is too busy solving the problem of a sofa stuck in his apartment stairwell to finish writing Anthem II, a revolutionary new music/accountancy software package.

But Richard has more urgent problems - having promised Susan he will reform his absent-minded ways, he promptly forgets to take her to the prestigious Coleridge Dinner at his old Cambridge College, St. Cedd's.

While Richard has spent an uncomfortable evening with his old tutor, Professor Chronotis, Susan's flat is under surveillance by the self-styled 'Holistic Detective' Dirk Gently, employed by Gordon to check up on Richard's activities, and, coincidentally another old friend from Cambridge days. From a rooftop vantage point Dirk and his surly assistant Janice Pearce witness Richard's bizarre attempt to retrieve an answering machine message he left for Susan before she can hear it - by breaking into her flat.

Here Richard encounters Michael Wenton-Weakes, Susan's desperate choice of date for the evening, the lugubrious and disillusioned scion of the Magna Publishing dynasty who has just been sacked as editor of the arts magazine Fathom by his mother, Lady Magna.

Matters are further compounded at the news that Gordon has been shot dead by a mystery assailant on a deserted Cambridgeshire road - deserted except for Richard Macduff - who was driving on the same road at almost the same time. Richard is prime suspect in Gordon's murder - and turns to Dirk Gently for help.