The tale of two socially-awkward misfits and the strange ways they try to find love: through revenge on high-school bullies, burgers, and video games.

In Wellington, wallflower Lily is inexplicably attracted to loser Jarrod. She's out of a job; he's nursing a decade-long grudge against someone who teased him in high school. When she accompanies him to his seacoast hometown where he intends to take on his nemesis, she meets his father, his daughter from a one-night stand, and other family members--plus the memory of his talented, dead brother. Jarrod treats Lily badly, invents a relationship with his dead brother's fiancée, and gears up for his fight. Will she finally have enough and go home?—<[email protected]>

Young shrinking violet Lily has been watching geeky Jarrod for quite some time. And having developed a desperate crush on the mulleted object of her desire, Lily summons up every last ounce of courage to crash Jarrod's dress-as-your-favourite-animal party. She's dressed as a white shark, and he's in a cheap eagle costume, and as one thing leads to another, an awkward semi-relationship starts. But it takes two to make a relationship work, and decade-long grudges against forgotten high-school enemies can only add fuel to the fire. Now, a once-and-for-all, no-holds-barred showdown stands in the way of happiness. They say love is blind; however, can an Eagle ever fall in love with a Shark?—Nick Riganas

In New Zealand, Lily McKinnon, a shy waif who marches to her own drumbeat, clerks at a Meaty Boy fast-food joint; her only true friend is her brother Damon. She does whatever she can to ensure that she is always the one who waits on a customer who regularly comes into Meaty Boy just after noon. This is her secret crush, mullet-topped Jarrod Lowe, a video-game geek who works at a local mall's Screen Blasterz electronics shop; he too goes his own way. Lily believes they are destined to be together, partly because they both have upper-lip moles. After Lily is laid off due to "downsizing" (in reality, fired) so will no longer see Jarrod regularly, she does anything to insert herself into his life, despite his obvious attraction to her colleague Jenny. Lily and Jarrod do somehow become a couple and she accompanies him to his seaside hometown on his longtime mission: to get back at the "big Samoan", Eric Elisi, who bullied him in school. Jarrod, who has been in training, has learned that Eric will soon be coming home, so he plans to challenge him to a schoolyard brawl. On the trip, Lily meets Jarrod's family, who are all as eccentric as he is, and finds out that Jarrod's now-deceased brother Gordon was the family favorite. The path to a happily-ever-after between Lily and Jarrod is not smooth or certain, mostly because of Jarrod's insecurities. What happens between the two is largely affected by the circumstances of the fight.—Huggo