Bernard Black (Dylan Moran), proprietor of the grubby bookshop Black Books, prefers the company of his books to his customers. Devoted to the twin pleasures of excessive drinking and wilful antagonism, Bernard enriches his life and the lives of his only two friends Manny (Bill Bailey) and Fran (Tamsin Greig) in the process.In this second collection of episodes, Bernard finds proof positive that Manny is mad; Manny worries about the reliability of his magic hot water bottle and uses his underworld connections to help the recently unemployed Fran find a job. Fran struggles to find her inner karma in-between trying to find her cigarettes and making excuses to have another drink. Under constant threat from the nasty, unfeeling outside world, the characters in Black Books attempt to maintain the haven of the bookshop even as their own talent for relentless stupidity pitches them towards mayhem.