Set in London in the 1970s,Rag & Bone Man is a picaresque chronicle of a man trying to put his life back together. Hendershot is a Canadian who went to England to play professional hockey. Now that career is on hold, his battered body recovering from hockey games and street fights in the downtrodden back alleys of London. His roommate is a 70-year-old pensioner whose hobby is shadowing IRA terrorists, real or imagined. He also works as an artist's model, and the mesmerizing artist, Margaret, is also his landlady.

Rag & Bone Man follows Hendershot as he struggles to find a way out of his situation. Steeled with gritty optimism, he pushes himself to get back into game shape in between studio sittings. To keep boredom at bay he joins his geriatric roommate in his quest to uncover IRA terrorists — a breadcrumb trail that seems to lead back to the enigmatic Margaret. And all of it seems to be working, sort of, until the day everything radically spins out of control.