For fifteen-year-old Martin, the summer of 1977 means punk rock, reggae music, disco girls, stolen cars, and a job picking cherries with the gypsies. Life is sweet—until he is beaten up and thrown in the Grand Union Canal with his best mate Smiles. Fast forward to 1988, and Joe is travelling home on the Trans-Siberian express after three years working in a Hong Kong bar, remembering the highs and lows of the intervening years as he comes to terms with catastrophe. Fast forward to 2000, and Joe is happy. Life is sweet again—until a face from the past forces him to re-live that night in 1977 and deal with the fall-out.
