Look Back in Anger by John Osborne is divided into three acts and four scenes. The plot revolves around a love triangle involving Jimmy Porter, an aggressive working-class, university-educated young man, his intelligent and indifferent upper-middle-class wife, Alison, and his wife’s closest friend, Helena.

In the drama, Alison and Jimmy Porter seek to manage class strife and a faltering marriage in 1950s England. Alison is from a typical upper-class family, but Jimmy hails from a working-class family but is well educated. Cliff Lewis, an amicable working-class guy and Jimmy’s old buddy, lives with the couple. Despite this, Jimmy had a higher level of schooling than Cliff. Act 1 begins on a Sunday morning in Jimmy and Alison Porter’s loft flat. Alison is seen ironing clothing in a small corner of the room while Cliff and Jimmy read the newspaper.

Jimmy’s violent rants at upper-class complacency and his wife’s dearth of “enthusiasm” dominate the very first part. Jimmy believes that hardship is the only way to feel authentic human feelings and that Alison and other upper-class individuals are thus less “alive” than him. Jimmy, a hot-tempered young guy, attempts to antagonise his wife Alison by making a mockery of her family, and he criticises Alison’s brother, a parliament member.

Furthermore, he appears to long for a time in Britain when the country wielded more influence. In that context, he criticises her family and says that all women are trying to ruin males. On the other hand, Cliff aims to cheer Jimmy up and establish peace by bantering and roughhousing with him. The two collide with Alison’s ironing board, causing her arm to burn. Jimmy apologises, and yet she orders him to go, and he does.

Cliff assists Alison in treating the burn, after which she informs him that she is expecting Jimmy’s child. She hasn’t informed Jimmy yet since she is concerned he would feel stuck and furious. Cliff consoles Alison, telling her that Jimmy adores her. He gives her a kiss. Jimmy enters as they are kissing but does not notice or react (the three live in a non-traditional set-up that would have been shocking to audiences at the time).

Cliff soon goes to buy more cigarettes, and Jimmy apologises for the burn, saying it was not intended, and the two enjoy a nice moment. They played their “bear and squirrel” routine. a game in which children can escape into love while pretending to be animals. Cliff arrives after a while and says Helena Charles, one of Alison’s upper-class pals, is on the telephone. Jimmy’s attitude quickly darkens. When Alison says Helena will stay with them, Jimmy erupts and hopes Alison will have a baby who died so she can feel actual pain like him.

The second act opens just two weeks later, featuring Helena and Alison splitting domestic responsibilities while Jimmy plays his trumpet backstage, which Alison clearly despises. She discloses Jimmy’s interest in forming a jazz band and his intention to leave his sweet shop to establish a new one. Alison describes her early months with Jimmy to Helena. How they lived with another of his working-class acquaintances, Hugh Tanner. She informs Jimmy about how she and Hugh disliked one another at first sight. She recalls going on rides to Alison’s upper-class friends’ parties. She describes herself as “a captive of those elements of society against which they had waged a war.”