Three Scottish lads (Fitz, Seany and Nellie) wonder if they'll ever leave their small town like so many of their boastful peers. The death of prospecting Old Man Tam puts a chuck of gold before their needy hands, which could be the ticket out for at least some of them. Harry, the scheming local rich guy, hears of it through his associate, Frankie the Fence, and begins a long scheme to wheedle it from Seany. Meanwhile, Fitz' retribution on a man who mugged Nellie, puts him in Dutch with Big John, an elder gangster in an adjacent city who has decided to exact a price from Fitz: £1000 or else he starts breaking one finger per week (then his arm) till the debt is paid. All the while, Fitz also struggles to put his aging and mentally broken father in a rest home (one with a long waiting list that only cash can break through). Backed into a corner on all sides, facing the problems head-on seems their last resort and only way out.