Paul Allen is dead, jumped, pushed or fallen from the bridge. Everyone in town knew Paul, and everyone thinks they know what happened.
The narrator mourns the death of his longtime friend Paul Allen. Sharing racially mixed backgrounds in a bigoted, and often violent, small town had given them something in common; however, Paul's relationship with girlfriend Jo from nearby town Chartishead has put a strain on the friendship.
On the day of the funeral rumours are circulating Wanington, their hometown. Was Jo seeing someone behind Paul's back? Was Paul pushed over the bridge by an adversary from his past, or pushed over the edge by the stresses of his relationship?
As the funeral progresses the tensions in the friendship are brutally revealed.