Set in Spring 2027, Ox and Chan, friends since childhood, get caught unawares in a police surveillance operation. Arrested, electronically tagged for attempted car theft. They know they're innocent. Little did they realise when choosing to clear their names in court, what the newly privatised and fully automated court system has in store for them. After watching a hypnotist perform for their first anniversary with his second wife, Lady Elizabeth, Sir Edward has an idea for solving the problem of overcrowded in prisons. Receiving a call for help later that night from his playboy brother James, Sir Edward the Minister for Prisons learns he had used his car during the crime. With an election looming, Sir Edward saw the potentially damaging situation. The next day Sir Edward makes a series of phone call aimed at keeping his brother out of prison then contacts the hypnotist from the show Ian, with an offer backed up with blackmail to further his idea to hypnotise prison inmates then release them into the community, saving the government millions and hopefully without re-offending. The project is a secret that Sir Edward hopes when ready will aid his push towards becoming Prime Minister one day.
Ox and Chan's appointed court solicitor persuade them to plead guilty, but during the process in the new electronic fully automated system, they discover they're charged with the murder and sentenced to a minimum of twelve years in Prison. In prison, Ox rescues Paul, a small-time burglar, from the clutches of the known thug Dozer. But everyone knows that Fat Fingers controls Downing prison. Ian chooses Downing Prison to carry out his hypnotic trials, with his own hidden agenda to get his brother out of prison. Forced to hypnotise the head warden, Officer Newport, and Riley the governor, as a precaution, Paul begs Ian to include Ox and Chan in the release scheme. Dr Min has asked Sir Edward for a return favour for keeping the minister's brother out of prison, so Ian finds he's then laboured with an assistant, Dr Min's daughter, Mai Li. Irritated by the imposed sidekick, Mai Li's computer skills however help him with a few problems during the project trial.
Sir Edward's ex-wife, Kim, who he has been seeing in secret, tells him she is pregnant, and Elizabeth gives him similar news on the same day. In a panic, Sir Edward doesn't know how to resolve the mess he has made for himself. While he considers how to extricate himself, the hypnosis trial gets underway, and Paul, Ox and Chan find themselves among the inmates scheduled for the trial release. Knowing that knowledge is power, Fat Fingers is curious about Ian's activity in the prison.
The governor receives a call from Sir Martin Dupont, his friend in Counter-intelligence, asking if he could take some suspected terrorist and use some unethical interrogation techniques to gain information on their targets. But most of the suspects have had their tongues cut out, and all but one that can talk is sick and taken to the prison hospital. Fat Fingers, by some coincidence after a raid on his cell and becoming ill, is also in hospital. The new prisoner, Izsa Madas, a Yemeni seemed to have somehow planned the encounter and asks him to help locate some processor chips, lost since the meltdown of Microsoft that Madas has plans for. Fat Fingers only agreeing after negotiating a large finder's fee.
Mai Li discovers she has a twin brother; after her father shows her a pendant. Back in Downing Prison, the only suspected terrorist that could talk is now dead; several other prisoners have died in similar circumstance over the months, and Newport and Riley think he is the victim of an unknown virus..... A lot more.