Plot

Two young women reunite and rekindle their friendship after having said goodbye at their college graduation six years earlier.

Annie is on a train journey towards London's Kings Cross, traveling to meet her old university friend Hannah. She recalls moving into a grotty student flat with Hannah in the mid-1980s. In those days Annie was self-conscious and jumpy. Annie and Hannah haven't seen each other since graduation; both now have moderately successful careers and are, at least on the surface, self-assured in their new lives. However, they're still carrying so much emotional baggage from their university days. During the course of a weekend they rediscover their close friendship and encounter many faces from the past.—Sophie Cockcroft

As a college student, Annie (Alison Steadman) was disfigured by acne and disabled by shyness. Her student friend and flat-mate Hannah (Katrin Cartlidge) was brash, callous, and antagonist. They were chalk and cheese, and they started an unlikely and often edgy friendship. They're about to meet several years later to catch up.—Tonyman 5

Annie and Hannah are former flat mates. Annie arrives in London to visit Hannah after six years of separate living. They remember the times they had together, relationships they had, start new ones...—Anonymous

In present day 1996, Annie (Lynda Steadman) is on a train to London to spend the weekend with Hannah (Katrin Cartlidge), her flatmate when they were students at Polytechnic (the Polytechnic of North London) six years earlier. After picking up Annie at the Kings Cross train station and driving her back to her apartment, Hannah laments about her alcoholic mother, and Annie talks about her mother's search for a new boyfriend. Annie, who still lives with her mother in the countryside, admires Hannah's independence and her now-subdued mature personalty. In contrast, Hannah laments being forced to be independent since she was a child.

Back in 1986, Hannah and Annie meet for the first time when the wild and outgoing Hannah and her flatmate Claire (Kate Byers) interview and accept the chain-smoking and outgoing Annie into their flat to help pay the rent. Annie and Hannah discuss getting rid of Claire due to her messy bad habits. After Claire moves out, Hannah and Annie discuss how Hannah hasn't cried since she was eight, when her parents split up. Annie, whose parents also divorced when she was eight, says she cries all the time.

The following year, Ricky Burton (Mark Benton), a socially awkward stutterer, has temporarily moved in with Hannah and Annie after being kicked out by his landlord. While discussing psychological traits with them in a local pub, Ricky's untactful probing angers Hannah. While Ricky visits the Chinese takeaway beneath the flat, Annie and Hannah discuss the argument and how Ricky fancies Annie. In another flashback, Ricky drunkenly confesses his love for Annie, but Annie says she's in love with someone else. Ricky leaves and doesn't reappear, so Hannah and Annie travel to his grandmother's home in Hartlepool. She tells them that Ricky has gone out, possibly along the seafront, so they go to look for him there.

In the present, Annie accompanies Hannah as she looks for a new flat to buy. One flat is owned by a Mr. Evans (Andy Serkis), whose flat contains a painting of his naked ex-girlfriend and pornographic magazines. Evans hits on Hannah and offers both women alcoholic drinks. They run out of the flat making excuses, and are still laughing as they drive off.

At the next flat, Adrian Spinks (Joe Tucker), an estate agent, meets them. Annie realizes he is an old college boyfriend, but Adrian says he doesn't recognize either one of them. In between their conversations, flashbacks show Hannah and Annie's history with Adrian. After meeting him at a nightclub, Hannah takes Adrian home and sleeps with him. The following morning, he walks into Annie's room and tries to chat her up. In other flashbacks, Annie tells Adrian about a recurring sexual fantasy. Later, they kiss and discuss why he split up with his ex-girlfriend: Adrian says he didn't want the commitment, and leaves when Annie asks why.

In the present, Hannah and Annie learn that Adrian is married with a child. At a Chinese restaurant having dinner, Annie and Hannah discuss how they have changed since attending the university and wonder what happened to Ricky. Annie says she hadn't stopped thinking about Adrian for past ten years. Hannah says she was hurt by the situation back then but said she didn't say anything because she knew that Annie was in love with him. In a flashback, Annie and Hannah cry and hug each other as they pack, preparing to leave their flat at the end of their four years at the university.

At the present-day dinner, Hannah recalls being overwhelmed upon meeting Annie's kind family, as opposed to her own dysfunctional family. They see their old flatmate Claire jogging, and discuss the coincidence of seeing two old acquaintances in one afternoon. They decide to visit their old flat, and there spot Ricky sitting on the steps outside the Chinese takeaway, holding a toy elephant. He seems angry and delirious, and tells them he arrived from Hartlepool the previous day. He says the toy is for his son, but the mother won't admit that the child is his. He tells them that his grandmother recently died, and when Annie asks where he currently lives, he refuses to answer and responds that they don't care. They leave.

In a flashback to their visit to Hartlepool, Hannah and Annie find Ricky by the sea. They ask how he is and he shouts and swears at them that he doesn't care. They chase after him and he screams at them to leave him alone.

In the present in the final scene, Hannah and Annie return to the railway station where they say goodbye to one another as Annie boards a train to take her back home to the countryside.