Soldier tony tucker returns from the falklands war, a bitter and angry man he soon makes a name for himself in the Essex underworld with his security business and drug dealing, after entering a partnership with gangster Bernard o Mahoney, his life spirals out of control in a cycle of drugs and violence, things get even worse when he meets notorious hard man pat tate and local drug dealer graig Rolfe, culminating in the rettendon Range Rover murders of 1995

MARGARET POWERS, a middle aged, middle class doctor of pathology, seeks a path of vengeance when she captures and tortures the young man she believes murdered her son, but in a bid to extract a confession, that path to vengeance leads to tragedy and unearths deeply troubling truths.

Mia, an aggressive fifteen-year-old girl, lives on an Essex estate with her tarty mother, Joanne, and precocious little sister Tyler. She has been thrown out of school and is awaiting admission to a referrals unit and spends her days aimlessly. She begins an uneasy friendship with Joanne's slick boyfriend, Connor, who encourages her one interest, dancing.