Two Scots, Shaun and wheelchair bound Daz, share a stink hole of a flat with Daz's teenage son somewhere in northern England. As they try to cope with life we flash back, through Shaun's eyes, to their wild childhood and teenage years and, most significantly, to one summer with a girl named Kay. Much of the film is about wasted lives; Daz's accident, Shaun's stunted educational opportunities that stem from his rebelliousness and an unexplained inability to write, and finally his missed chance with Kay.