Dr. Frank Owlbrother, lost in a world of bureaucratic doublespeak and unhappy in his marriage, prefers to live in the alternative reality of his Sagaworld comics. He would like to be a hero, but suffers severely from self-doubt. He is forced to confront reality when he comes under pressure to sign off on a doctored report on the wonder drug Optiviva, the foundation of Oldie support for Prime Minister Flattley. Frank suspects that Optiviva is the cause of increasing outbursts of Oldie aggression and that Flattley is in league with the sinister Professor Medvednik to keep its failures secret. When his computer is attacked by the radical youth group POO, his secretary Fran is kidnapped, and he finds proof of the harmful effects of Optiviva, Frank is drawn into a whirlwind that brings the breakdown of his marriage and the loss of his job. Following the advice of Fran, who, capitalising on the publicity created by her kidnapping, has become the star of a TV reality show, he attempts to fashion a new identity as "Fearless Frank", but is continually confronted by his own inadequacies, until he learns, through the sport of free running, a radical willingness to open himself up to life's risks.