A Place to Go

Ricky Flint dreams of escaping his working-class life in Bethnal Green. He works in a cigarette factory and shares a crowded terraced house with his parents, his pregnant sister Betsy, and Betsy's husband Jim. The daily grind and lack of opportunity set the stage for the decisions he will soon face.

To fund his escape, Ricky agrees to help local gangster Jack Ellerman rob the cigarette factory. He pulls Jim, Betsy's husband, into the plan, hoping the job will secure money and a fresh start for the family. The scheme marks Ricky's plunge into crime driven by a desperate desire for change.

Ricky becomes attracted to Catherine 'Cat' Donovan, who has been dating Charlie Batey, another gangster in Jack's crew. Cat agrees to date Ricky and even makes love with him, yet she remains fiercely independent and refuses to be controlled or to abandon Charlie. The budding relationship complicates loyalties within the gang.

Ricky's father Matt, a dockworker, longs to leave his insecure job and strike out on his own. He becomes a busker with an Houdiniesque escape routine, but his anger toward Jack Ellerman boils over when he discovers Jack and his gang at the Flints' house. The stress triggers a fatal stroke that ends his dreams and his life.

On the night of the planned robbery, Jim decides at the last moment that he cannot risk his family's future. Ricky takes Jim's lorry without his knowledge, steps in for Jim, and disables the factory alarm to allow the operation to proceed. The group moves forward under the pressure of keeping the plan secret and successful.

During the robbery, Ricky is instructed to stand guard with a lead pipe, but he cannot bring himself to strike a police officer who approaches. The officer is knocked out by Charlie, who acts in the face of Ricky's hesitation. The inability to secure the officer's removal exposes the operation's vulnerability and heightens the danger for everyone involved.

Charlie retaliates by setting fire to Jim's lorry, fueling a chain of chaos. Ricky is badly burned trying to douse the flames and is injured in the process. The incident forces him out of action and into hospital care, further destabilizing the family's plans.

Ricky recovers in hospital from his injuries while Cat visits him. She continues seeing Charlie, highlighting the tangled loyalties and emotional costs surrounding the gang's actions. The hospital scenes underscore the personal price paid by those pulled into crime.

Slum clearance forces Lil to move out of her 30-year home into a new flat in another area, uprooting the familiar rhythms of the Flints' life. The move mirrors the upheaval caused by poverty and housing insecurity that frames much of Ricky's world. The family begins to adapt to a different neighborhood.

Jim and Betsy use the insurance money from the burned lorry to move into a house of their own, though Betsy finds the new environment lonely. Jim gives up his dream of becoming a lorry driver and instead takes a steady job in a local factory. The family seeks stability amid ongoing change.

After his hospital stay, Ricky discovers Cat with Charlie at a pub and attacks Charlie in a fit of jealousy. The police intervene, and both men are arrested. The confrontation exposes the volatile mix of desire, betrayal, and violence that has defined Ricky's choices.

In court, Ricky testifies that he and Cat are engaged, explaining his anger over Cat's ongoing relationship with Charlie while he was hospitalized. Cat corroborates his claim, and the judge shows leniency, letting Ricky off with a fine. The scene seals a fragile legal and personal compromise.

With the legal matter resolved, Ricky and Cat decide to make their engagement a reality. Despite the tangled relationships and the cost of the crime, they commit to a future together, ending the story on a note of cautious optimism.