John Haslett Cuff is sure that his girlfriend is cheating on him. In a search for the reasons behind his jealousy and obsession, he remembers the shock of returning home from school to find his mother lying on the kitchen floor from a suicide attempt after one of her affairs ended. Brutally honest personal confessions about his own cheating ways during three previous marriages, a painful interview with his irreverent and adulterous mother about her affairs, and testimony by women who have compulsively sought new sexual partners reveal the causes and consequences of adultery.