In 1995, after a final day of school, six friends, thrill seeker Charlie, his affectionate excitable girlfriend Lucy, empathetic and well built Rix, his considerate yet energetic girlfriend Sherry, cheeky and humorously social Sam and shy introvertly down-to-earth Bean are all hanging out in Greenwich Park sharing a spliff. There they happen upon former classmate, Bobby who is playing guitar with two of her friends. Sherry encourages Bean to go over and talk to her. At first reluctant, he decides to do so. While Bean is talking to her, building up his confidence, Sam sneaks up behind him with a water pistol. Within minutes, both groups start enjoying a game of shooting water pistols at each other. Bean enviously looks on as Bobby and Sam start flirting with each other. All seven friends then make a plan to “take on the world with their art” together, while standing on the high point of the park facing the Isle Of Dogs. Charlie asks his everyone if they are ready and Bean takes out his trumpet and blows a victory melody.
Four years later in 1999, Charlie is working as a photographer and is riding his motorcycle to a job interview. A band has formed with Bean on trumpet, Rix on beats and keyboards and Bobby on the bass guitar rehearsing electro music in Sam’s garage. Sam, using his industry knowledge and money left for him by his late father is the manager. Sherry is watching the rehearsal, though not all seems to be going completely smooth in her relationship with Rix. Just as Sam is giving a talk about realistically achieving success in the industry, Charlie returns. Having been given the job he jokingly builds up to telling them, before the group head to the south bank for a photoshoot.
While Bean is practicing his trumpet playing, his father abusively kicks him out of the flat. Bean seeks temporary refuge at Charlie’s, who is furious at the way his father treats him. Charlie’s kind hearted mother says he can stay as long as he needs to. Later that evening, the group go to a function at Cutty Sark where Sam uses his connections to try and promote the band to fellow music entrepreneur Ant. However he is constantly rebuffed and told that their electro/jazz nonsense is not what they’re looking for. Just as Rix is confiding in Sam about how his feelings for Sherry are fading and he’s considering leaving her, Sherry confides in Bobby that she is pregnant with Rix’s baby. Bean, meanwhile feeling like an outsider, wanders into a quiet area for a cigarette. There he encounters a young woman named Rachel, who is a colleague of Bobby from the bank. As they talk, a spark grows and after a steamy kiss, she ends up going back with him to Sam’s house.
Next morning, Sam and Bobby, who have been in a relationship since meeting in the park that day four years ago, wake up before the others rise. Sherry tells Rix about the pregnancy and he completely freaks out, not wanting to be a father, telling her he’s determined they’re not going to keep the baby. Sherry, however, angrily tells him that it’s her body and her decision. While Charlie and Lucy are having sex, she orgasmically pleads him to cum inside her. Charlie freaks out and immediately pushes her away, angrily insisting that he wants a career, not a baby. However when he calms down, he notices something is troubling Lucy and she shares her worry that Charlie’s success will cause a distance between them and eventually he won’t love her anymore. Charlie reassures Lucy that he does love her very much and is not interested in anybody else.
Bean and Rachel, while having a dip in Sam’s garden swimming pool, talk about places they would love to travel. Rachel lists hot, summery locations, and Bean says he’s always wanted to go to Waterville, a seaside town in Ireland. Rachel, who has never been there, suggests they go together, having taken a real shine to Bean. To show Rachel how much he likes her, during band rehearsal Bean and the rest of the group play a tune that he wrote that morning for her. This touches her deeply. That day Charlie is on his way back from the first day of the job; however he suddenly loses control of his motor and has a severe collision with another much larger vehicle. The accident leaves Charlie in a coma and paralysed from the waist down. When all his friends arrive at the hospital, Sam becomes overridden with anxiety and grief due to memories of his father dying of cancer many years prior, but he seems more determined than ever to push the band forward and goes to the office of his uncle Henry to discuss options. He tells Sam that if they wish to be a success, they should find a vocalist. On the way back from the hospital, Bean sees Rachel in a car with another man beside her, and the man makes a pass at her; she does not reciprocate. From a distance, Bean believes that Rachel is kissing the man and runs away, feeling devastated. Rix meanwhile, walking on Blackheath, notices a father and son sharing a moment flying a kite, and decides that he wants to do the right thing and stand by Sherry and their baby. When Rix arrives at her house to tell her this, they happily embrace.
Back at the studio, Iona is brought in by Sam to work on new material, while Rix grows irritated that Sam went ahead without consulting him and Bobby seems cautiously jealous of the closeness between Rix and Iona. Uncle Henry urges Rix to appreciate what Iona is offering and to treat the collaboration seriously.
The album launch party arrives with tension. Sam announces the good news of a record deal, but Rix greets it with guarded enthusiasm, sensing the strain in the group. Bean remains estranged, and the distance between him and the others intensifies the already raw emotional weather inside the group. Rachel confronts Sam about his lies regarding [Bean], and their budding connection clashes with the fragile loyalties of the band. The atmosphere shifts as the party uncovers the fractures within the circle, and the night becomes a turning point in the band’s fate.
In hospital, Charlie awakens to dwindling mobility but finds new warmth in the small moments of life. He forms a cautious camaraderie with fellow patient Mick and begins to rediscover simple joys, while Lucy visits and then withdraws, overwhelmed by the weight of the changes around them. The possibility of a future with Rachel and Bean seems distant but not forgotten, and the group’s resilience begins to reemerge in new configurations.
Meanwhile, Bean sinks deeper into the drug trade under the influence of Elroy and engages with Ricky, the main supplier, in a perilous cycle that pushes him toward a breaking point. The plan to frame Bean by Elroy comes to fruition, and the tension between the old friends reaches a fever pitch. Ricky warns that trouble is coming, and the band’s moment of triumph teeters on the edge of catastrophe.
On the night of their first gig as Greenwich Mean Time, the troupe performs with a blend of electric energy and personal heartbreak. A tense confrontation between Bean and his past culminates in a violent sequence that reveals the price of their choices. As the music erupts, Bean makes a dramatic, final choice, and the night ends with tragedy and a dramatic escape from the consequences.
In the aftermath, a transformed circle—Sam, Charlie, Rachel, Rix, Sherry and [S]harry and their newborn—gathers on a quiet beach, where Charlie opens a silver container that carries ashes and jokes, “there you go geezer, finally made it to Ireland.” A light wind scatters some of the ashes back into the group, and Rix playfully remarks that it’s not so easy to remove South London from their lives. The five of them look out toward the sea, faces touched by sadness and hope, knowing life will throw more trials their way, but grateful they will be there for one another when it matters.
> Death is an absolute, anytime you want out the door’s always open
This is a story of friendship tested by dreams, love, betrayal, and the hard realities of growing up, where music becomes both an escape and a responsibility, and where the bonds formed in youth are repeatedly measured against the costs of ambition, circumstance, and choice.
