Follow two unique board-gaming friends meandering through leafy suburban life, charting a story about Judo, ancient Rome, first loves, and the expansion of the Universe.
From the moment he was born, it was just Leonard and his mother against the world. An imaginative, friendless child, Leonard was never lonely, and even as a man in his thirties, he was content living with mother, ghost writing children's encyclopaedias and regularly playing board games with his best friend Hungry Paul. That is, until his mother suddenly dies.Leonard faces the world with fresh eyes, aware that if he's not careful, he's going to end up living a small life of complete insignificance. But just how does he expand his world? Hungry Paul's own universe is exactly the size he wants it to be, but his mother Helen insists that he attend the local hospital with her as a volunteer visitor. Hungry Paul struggles with small talk, but after a minor upset with another patient, he sits in companionable silence with Mrs Hawthorn. Meanwhile, Leonard meets a new colleague, Shelley, an office fire warden who makes him smile for the first time in weeks.
With Shelley on his mind, Leonard decides to simply talk to her. As he tries to overcome his nerves, Mark Baxter asks her out and though she declines, Leonard is disheartened. Muttering Mark's chat-up lines, he is overheard by Rhona who thinks he is asking her on a date. It is calamitous; Rhona gets drunk and demands to see the chef, revealed to be her ex-boyfriend. Leonard realises he has been set up but he's left smiling when Shelley delights in the disaster and they bond. His universe is expanding after all. Across town, Hungry Paul decides to enter an exciting competition.
During his shift as a casual postman, Hungry Paul delivers a letter to himself with good news. Leonard successfully asks Shelley to lunch and they spend an hour together which feels like the start of something. With a date planned for that evening, Leonard cancels his usual game night with Hungry Paul. Discombobulated, Hungry Paul goes to visit Mrs Hawthorn but on the way he discovers the chocolates his mother bought for the hospital nurses are out of date. Incensed he brings them to the local shop and demands recompense. Elsewhere, Leonard and Shelley go on a first date.
After a successful first date, Leonard is head over heels for Shelley but is unnerved when he hears she is going to the cinema with a man called Patrick that evening. After obsessively questioning who Patrick might be, Leonard knows he must ask Shelley outright. Elsewhere Hungry Paul has been shortlisted for the email sign-off phrase competition and attends the awards ceremony with his family. The outcome leads to a new opportunity for Hungry Paul with the National Mime Association.
Leonard gets positive feedback on his new children's book proposal. Encouraged, he asks Shelley to go on another date, which doesn't go to plan. Meanwhile Hungry Paul attends an unusual job interview, to become the new spokesperson for the National Mime Association.
Leonard learns the fate of his book proposal and of his future with Shelley. On the eve of her wedding, Grace feels held back by her responsibility towards her younger brother. Hungry Paul attends his sister's wedding and starts a new venture to reintroduce people to silence.
