 Growing up in one of the rougher parts of London John sometimes feels doomed to live amongst the many less fortunate souls living beneath the gray skies of Thatcher s Britain. John has cut himself off from friends, family and even those he communally lives with in an old house in Isling ton. Addicted to inaction, gambling senselessly with the little money he receives on the dole and dependent on drugs to lighten up his day, John is slowly killing off any positive emotion in his heart and replacing it with apathy. At moments John shows genuine signs that somewhere deep down inside he desires something more from life and feels helpless to having any true impact on what direction his life may take. John is not completely alone, however, and receives a lot of support from an over confident ex-surfer from California named Buddy. Although his biggest ally and closest friend, Buddy s words of advice fall on deaf ears when he has trouble practicing what he preaches. On one pivotal day John encounters an unlikely "angel" who questions John s motives and manhood in only a few minutes of knowing each other. This chance meeting is shortly followed by the arrival of a new flatmate from Colombia, Pedro. A person with much to offer and even more to hide. John s ties to the past are strong and he feels obligated to play a part in the lives of old friends. In England in the late eighties young men with bad habits sometimes lived especially hard, demonstrated on a night at the local pub which too easily becomes a violent affair in the hands of one of John s oldest friends, Dickie. Caught up in traumatic events not akin to John s character he falls into despair and vulnerability. In an attempt to run from his bad experience as soon as possible, John finds himself hurriedly planning a day trip to the coast of France in order to retrieve some documents of monumental importance to Pedro. John forgetfully does not ask some of the more prudent questions which should be answered before such a trip and instead leaps at the 500 quid Pedro offers to John for accepting to embark on the mysterious quest. Exceedingly the plot thickens when, at the last minute while boarding a train, Pedro asks John to dig something up in a country town not far from Calais. John unprepared and incorrigible, casts all caution and sensibility to the wind and deservedly arrives back in London a failure of enormous proportions. Almost immediately upon his return Pedro is deported while frustrated and upset with John. Thankfully a new woman, Christine, with an attitude both complimentary and helpful to John s character enters his life and things begin to look up for once in a long time. Comfortably Numb is a realistic and yet comedic portrayal of a young man, John, trying to find the flame within him which could help him battle and overcome the adversity he faces and achieve what is possible to anyone who finds the power to believe in themselves and become aware of the signs in life which point us in the right direction. John will have to work hard to build the fire only recently ignited in his heart and soul as others unknowingly threaten to extinguish it through their own careless or malicious actions. John s excursion to France will eventually turn into a stickier situation than he could have ever imagined and before the end many close to John will play a part in an exciting conclusion where John will be forced to make strong choices where greed, love, friendship and even life will be at risk.