Even Barney Panofsky's friends tend to agree that he is 'a wife-abuser, an intellectual fraud, a purveyor of pap, a drunk with a penchant for violence and probably a murderer'. But when Barney's sworn enemy threatens to publish this damning verdict, Barney is driven to write his own memoirs, rewinding the spool of his life, editing, selecting and plagiarising, as his memory plays tricks on him - and on the reader. Barney slides from crisis to success, from lowlife to highlife in Montreal, Paris and London, his exploits culminating in a final outrageous scandal.