Set in the mid-1980's, the story follows the fate of three inmates doing time in Pentonville prison. The first is Adam Smith better known as Smithy, imprisoned for living off immoral earnings. He and his fiancee Melissa are being hounded by his old-school bully turned Prison Officer. Secondly, there is Gino Sassari, the younger brother of Giovanni Sassari a Cosa Nostra family head, imprisoned for driving and taking away. Lastly, Jonathan Wood, known to all as Maggot, who is a homeless vagrant doing seven days for petty theft, though he has dreamed of becoming a big shot in criminal fraternity. Whilst friendships are being created within the walls, old relationships on the outside are being torn apart. Caught in the middle is Penny Wood the nine-year-old daughter of Maggot and homeless while her father serves out his sentence. Gino's connection with 'The Family', who run a prostitution ring from the Oristano Hotel in Euston, is crucial, for it is here that, the lives of all three are altered irrevocably.