The story is based on six fat men living together. The main character is Alexander Finch, who at the beginning of the story is thieving cans of oysters and bedsheets. The revolution has taken place and all the fat men have lost their jobs. Fat men are perceived as greedy and selfish. As a result, Finch has grouped with other five fat men to fight against the revolution. The other men include May, Glino, Milligan, Fantoni, and an unknown man. All men are single save for May who is rumored to have been married before the revolution.
All the six men are enthralled by their landlady, Nancy Bowlby. However, she has been nicknamed Florence Nightingale. Bowlby is working on the new system. Rumor has it that she is having a romantic affair with the unnamed man. When Finch delays paying his rent, the landlady threatens to evict him. Bowlby writes a letter of notice to Finch because she is afraid of picking the fight with the fat men. All the men save for the unnamed man plot to kill Bowlby. However, their plan goes wrong when they kill Fantoni instead of Bowlby.
The story shows how the transition of power from a revolutionary regime is challenging. The fat men who were dethroned from their position are willing to fight back and re-seize the power. Indeed, these men want to use all the means possible including violence to unseat the current regime. In this current regime, fat men are relatively powerless. As a result, people are looking down upon them. The story shows how greedy and selfish people are mocked by society and rendered powerless due to their egocentric personality.
