High Fidelity is the story of Rob, a pop music junkie who runs his own semi-failing record store. His girlfriend Laura has just left him for Ian from the flat upstairs. Rob is both miserable and relieved. After all, could he have spent his life with someone who has a bad record collection? This narrowly misses his list of all-time top five most memorable split-ups.

Rob seeks refuge in the company of Barry and Dick, the offbeat clerks at his store. They speak the masculine language of lists, endlessly reviewing their top five films (Reservoir Dogs...); top five Elvis Costello songs ("Alison"...); top five episodes of Cheers (the one where Woody sang his stupid song to Kelly...).

Rob tries dating a singer called Marie (a post-Partridge family, pre-L.A. Law Susan Dey), who once sold a song to Nanci Griffith. Her rendition of "Baby, I Love Your Way" makes him cry. But maybe it's just that he's always wanted to sleep with someone who has a record contract.

Then he sees Laura again. And Rob begins to think (as awful as it sounds) that life as an episode of thirtysomething, with all the kids and marriages and jobs and barbecues and k.d. lang CDs that this implies, might not be so bad.