Carol faces her own problems when her husband leaves, leaving her alone with her son. Things take a darker turn when she decides to go on a diet.

Now unemployed, Lauren is seeking Mr Right after splitting up with commitment-phobic Gareth. What's not helpful is her sister's happy marriage and pregnancy making Lauren all too aware of her single status.

Birthday blues are the least of Val's problems. Mistrust, jealousy, and insecurity turn her world upside down after she confronts her male escort lover about what he gets up to with his clients.

The arrival of divorce papers send Alan's blood pressure rocketing, with the result that he fails a medical and loses his job.

Jamie thinks his fortunes have changed when he makes the acquaintance of secondhand car dealer Craig. He spends his birthday money on flash clothes and a mobile phone in a desperate bid to fit in with Craig's friends, but soon realises his new friend is a shady operator with a criminal past — can his policeman father help him cut his ties with the shady crowd?

Despite being overweight, Rebecca Patterson is generally content with life – particularly with her job as assistant manager at a garden centre that allows her to work alongside the man she secretly adores. But the shy and retiring twentysomething's cosy world is shattered by the return of a figure from her past, who proceeds to subject her to cruel psychological tortures.

Betty's already stressful life takes another twist when her childhood sweetheart joins the slimming club, prompting the return of long-suppressed feelings and revelations about a dark secret from her past.