A jealous husband and his friends plot the kidnapping of his wife's lover with the intention of restoring his wounded ego.
Colin (Ray Winstone) is in agony, shattered by his wife's infidelity. However, he has friends who do more than stand by. They kidnap the wife's French lover and hold him prisoner so that Colin can restore his manhood with revenge. A kangaroo court takes place, and as the situation escalates, loverboy's life hangs in the balance as Colin wrestles with revenge, remorse, grief, and self pity, all the while egged on by his motley crew of friends who just want him to get on with it so they can get down to the pub.
Colin Diamond (Ray Winstone) is a successful car salesman who, after a discovering his wife Liz (Joanne Whalley) is having an affair, has an emotional breakdown. Colin calls his friends who come to his apartment, which is in total broken-down chaos state.His friends convince him to kidnap his wife's lover and then encourage him to torture and kill him.
Diamond's partners in crime are suave homosexual gambler Meredith (Ian McShane), crotchety and bigoted Old Man Peanut (John Hurt), the down to earth Archie (Tom Wilkinson) and the combustible Mal (Stephen Dillane).Archie lives with his mother (Edna Dore) and is a good cook.
Mal by turns encourage Colin's lust for revenge and sympathize with his situation. The friends conspire to abduct Liz's boyfriend Loverboy from the restaurant where he works. Archie takes permission from mob boss Biggy Walpole (Andy De La Tour) before committing the crime under his jurisdiction.
Colin and the friends gather at a run-down apartment, where Colin is drinking heavily to get over his depression. Peanut tells Colin to get it back together. Colin says that all he ever did was to love Liz.Colin remembers the day when Liz tells him that she met someone else. Colin cannot understand what he did wrong. Liz says that the relationship has not been working for her for a long time, but Colin blames her for not doing her part. Liz has made up her mind about leaving Colin, but he will not allow her to leave. Colin wanted to know the guy's name and that's when he started bashing her all over the apartment.Colin beat up his wife Liz very severely before she escaped & was rescued by a bus driver on the open road.
Peanut argues that both Liz and Loverboy should be killed. Meredith recounts that he ran into Tippi Gordon (Steven Berkoff) the previous night, who took him to a casino. Meredith ended up winning 40,600 pounds. Meredith had bet 5000 pounds that Tippi could not win 6000 pounds in under a minute. Tippi bets 6000 pounds on roulette table, black and loses. He goes double or nothing 3 times, betting black twice more and betting red at the last take. He loses all 3 times, giving Meredith 40,000 pounds. He then won 600 pounds at blackjack.Peanut doesn't approve of Meredith being gay.
The friends goad Colin into bringing Loverboy out of closet and "Deal" with him. Colin runs out of the apartment as he reflects on how savagely he beat Liz.Colin eventually returns to the apartment reflecting that his sex life with Liz was good. Colin has an anxiety attack thinking how his 21 years of marriage to Liz did not mean anything.Meredith counsels Colin and says that he is sharing and caring type and there is nothing wrong with him. Meredith says that if he was Colin, he would toss a coin and either kill Liz and Loverboy or let them both go.The coin toss is to kill them both.
The friends then emotionally and mentally torture Liz's new boyfriend, Loverboy (Melvil Poupaud), a "Frog" waiter, first by locking him in a cupboard and threatening him, and tying him up and subjecting him to humiliating verbal and physical assault.Colin wants to be left alone with Loverboy. Colin removes the plastic bag covering Loverboy's face as he wants to see what he looks like. Colin says that Loverboy doesn't know the first thing about Liz and is probably just interested in sex. Colin says that love is more than sex. The reality of life is hard work and is not easy. Colin is livid that Loverboy degraded his love and humiliated his feelings.
Peanut compares Colin to Samson, a biblical strongman who fell in love with a royal princess Delilah. But the princess betrays him and cuts his hair while he sleeps. Samson loses his strength when he lost his hair. He was blinded, whipped, lashed, and made into a slave. But as his hair started growing back, he got his strength back, to the point when he was put back into the arena to parade in front of royalty. Samson destroys the foundations of the arena with his bare hands and brings it crashing down, killing all the royalty and himself.
Inside, Loverboy admits that he destroyed Colin's marriage. As Colin strangles Loverboy, he dreams about Liz visiting him at the apartment. Colin wants to know if Liz is pregnant with Loverboy's child. Liz tends to Loverboy's injuries in front of Colin.Colin suspects that Mal is having an affair with Liz. But then he reverts back to the reality.Colin then gives Loverboy a mental tour of his house. He shows Loverboy his marriage contract with Liz.Colin has another nightmare where Liz is having an affair with Meredith, who is their chauffeur. Colin realizes that Liz did not love him anymore. Liz asks for Colin's help.
Eventually, after battling his inner daemons, Colin decides to let Loverboy walk away despite the voracious protests of his friends led by Peanut.
