When the story begins, a fat man named Alexander Finch is seen to be stealing bed sheets and cans of oysters from an emporium. It is scorching hot outside, and he is trying to calmly make his way through the store without being caught. As he approaches the door, a young and frail woman spits the word “slob” at him. Readers learn that before whatever revolution has taken place here, it was acceptable or even desirable to be fat. Since the revolution, however, fatness has become associated with the selfish oppressors. Finch used to be employed but has since lost his job because of his “slovenl[iness]”—a thinly-veiled reference to his size. He is now the secretary of the secret society called “Fat Men Against the Revolution.”

Finch lives with five other fat men. The only one who has a job is Milligan, and he is a taxi driver. There is also Glino, May, Fantoni (the leader of the group), and a man who refuses to tell anyone his name. Finch lives in a kind of extension on the house, and with its metal walls, it reaches uncomfortable heats. He chose blue sheets, hoping they will make him feel cooler. The man who won’t tell his name has lived in the house “from the beginning.” He is the biggest and the strongest of the group. May is the only man who was married before the revolution, and he keeps writing letters to his wife, despite not knowing where to find her. It seems that she has left him.

Finch buys a Botticelli book, but he hides it from Fantoni. Fantoni and Glino try to steal some dynamite to blow up a revolutionary leader’s statue, to no avail. A woman the men call Florence Nightingale (but whose real name is Nancy Bowlby) comes over to collect the rent. She enters Finch’s room, and they have an awkward, flirtatious dynamic that never goes anywhere. When she asks about Fantoni’s plans, she suggests that perhaps the men should rebel by eating a revolutionary or even someone of higher status in the new regime (a regime which she actually works for, though she acts as though she doesn’t want to).

The other men also prepare for Florence Nightingale’s visit. All six of the men are in love with her, though Fantoni denies it. There’s a rumor that the unnamed man is actually having an affair with her. Despite Finch being short on the rent, Florence Nightingale casually tells him to try to get it to her by next week. The next time she comes, she drops a letter on the floor. After she leaves, they read it and discover that it threatens Finch with eviction if he does not pay rent within a week. She evidently seeks to avoid negative confrontations with any of the men and only has positive interactions with them aloud.

Some nights later, May and Finch are discussing Fantoni’s plan to cook and eat Florence Nightingale. Evidently, Finch shared what she’d said with the group. Later, Finch is working for Fantoni, earning rent money by helping to dig a barbecue pit in the backyard. Then a “rationale” is written up for killing and eating Florence Nightingale as an official action that can be undertaken by the “Fat Men Against the Revolution.” Only the unnamed man is unaware of the plan, and the five others sneak into his room one night while he and Florence Nightingale are in bed, intending to capture Florence Nightingale and cook her.

At this point, the story jumps ahead in time. Glino, a vegetarian, is vomiting, and...