After Hours

Happy enough with his job in a large insurance company, Max’s life is unexpectedly thrown into turmoil when he is made redundant. With no money coming in, and plenty going out, he is forced by necessity to take a bar job as a stop-gap.

During his ongoing search for work he starts to spend more time with his housemate and friend, Kate, who is also in the pub trade. Max gradually realises he has found the job he wants, and doesn’t want to return to the world of insurance. He now has to break the news to his parents.

Within days of starting his new job, a family crisis forces Max to head home to Norfolk, where he finds the family divided. On his return to London, he and Kate have a drink together, and Max wakes up in Kate’s bed, which they agree was a big mistake and mustn’t spoil their friendship. Max decides to take up the offer of living in at the pub to avoid a repeat performance, and is then thrown into the world of trainee management, which he gladly takes on.

He falls head over heels for Jill, a nurse who is on a six-month exchange from New Zealand, and within a short time it becomes the most serious relationship of his life. His friendship with Kate also deepens as she and Jill help Max cope with devastating news about his sister. Kate in turn confides in him about her troubled relationship, which also has disastrous consequences.

Max’s training complete, and with a spell as relief manager under his belt, he is offered the position of assistant manager, which he happily accepts. He and Jill then take a holiday, during which they discuss her imminent return to New Zealand. They decide that Max will follow her once his training is finished, and stay for a month, while they decide their future.

Immediately following Jill’s departure, a vacancy arises for a manager at one of the other pubs in the chain, and Max is encouraged to apply, purely for the experience. With torn loyalties, he does, as he believes there is little chance of being successful. But he is amazed when the unthinkable happens and he is offered the pub.

With his relationship with Kate deepening, and Jill on the other side of the world eagerly awaiting his arrival, Max faces a difficult decision. He tries to push thoughts of the pub and Kate aside, because he doesn’t want to let Jill down.

With days to go before his departure he finally admits to Kate how his feelings for her have developed and she responds by throwing him out. Has he blown his relationship with her?

In a dramatic scene at the airport, Max makes the decision that will shape the rest of his life.