When art student Ben Willis is dumped by his girlfriend Suzy, he cannot sleep. To pass the long hours of the night, he starts working the late shift at the local supermarket. There he meets a colourful cast of characters, all of whom develop their own way of dealing with the boredom of an eight-hour shift. Ben imagines himself stopping time. This way, he can appreciate the artistic beauty of the frozen world and the people inside it - especially Sharon, a quiet check-out girl who perhaps holds the answer to solving the problem of Ben's insomnia.