There is the protagonist, the anti-hero. He has married the wrong person. There is the spouse, the antagonist, she is a difficult and habitual fault-finder. She has been undermining his and her own sanity for years. So the protagonist, he has a position where his job is to oversee environmental problems, environmental destruction that seems to be leading to catastrophe, to a cataclysm; then it is evident that his work has been dragging him down for some time. So what the problem, i.e., the dilemma that the story relates, is that the anti-hero has been getting on with life as anyone might when backed up against the wall and with no reasonable way out. But there is an interest that he happens onto, a new romantic interest, an interesting love interest, and she is someone who is interested in improving her lot as well. The story in "The Unorthodox Ox" deals with the untangling of a personal and professional situation which when resolved will allow different parties to move on and live a little better.