In a London karaoke bar around 1987, Maggie Conlan, Crissy Rock, a woman with a troubled past, meets Jorge, Vladimir Vega, a Paraguayan immigrant. Over a drink, she confesses that her four children, each with a different father, are in the care of social services. She leaves, forgetting her wallet, only for Jorge to catch up with her at the bus and return it. They move to a pizza joint, then return to Jorge’s apartment, where Maggie opens up about her experiences with her abusive, alcoholic ex-boyfriend Simon, Ray Winstone, which led her to seek refuge in a domestic violence shelter. The pair share a kiss, but Maggie’s emotions surge as she confronts a deep-seated sense of loss for her children and her unresolved past.
A flashback plunges us into Maggie’s world of music and fear. She is singing in a club when a bartender calls her away to discover a fire at the refuge and learns that her son Sean has been injured. At the hospital, police question Maggie about leaving the children unattended. She maintains that a friend held the key, but the friend cannot recall the arrangement. Sean is placed into foster care, and Maggie’s visits are tense, with her being abrupt and controlling toward his foster mother, Mary, which causes Sean pain as she mishandles his wound care. Back in the present, Maggie and Jorge resume their night together, the weight of her past briefly giving way to the moment.
The narrative then shifts to another flashback in which Maggie sits with social workers who tell her she must be assessed at a halfway house to have any chance of reclaiming Sean. Reluctant at first, she eventually agrees but bolts after witnessing a confrontation with another patient. She becomes a quasi-fugitive; her sister Mairead, Sandie Lavelle, urges Maggie to seek a safer path, and Maggie worries she cannot return to the refuge. This pushes her back toward Simon and a plan to leave town together. A social worker warns Maggie that fleeing could cost her her children, and although Simon suggests they collect Maggie’s welfare check, she fears the authorities will locate them. In a violent moment, Simon ejects Maggie from the vehicle and assaults her, and she leaves the children behind in the van, which is eventually taken by the police.
In the present, Jorge reveals that he is a political refugee whose visa has expired, leaving him in England as an illegal alien. He also discloses that he has a wife back in Paraguay but is unsure of their fate due to the long separation. At Maggie’s court hearing, a doctor testifies that Maggie loves her children but is not capable of proper care, given her history with Simon. Maggie interrupts the proceedings with protests and then runs out of the courtroom. Jorge later reveals that his status has been resolved in his favor, and his commitment to Maggie remains strong; he tears up his plane tickets in a declaration of staying life in the U.K. The couple moves into a new flat, and Jorge takes up under-the-table work at a local chicken restaurant. Maggie’s happiness is short-lived when she finds an adoption notice for Sean in the newspaper, sparking a fresh wave of worry and desperation.
As Maggie and Jorge adjust to their precarious life, their clashes with the irritable elderly neighbor Mrs. Higgs become a recurring irritant, with Mrs. Higgs making hostile comments about Jorge. A health visitor visits the newborn baby, but Maggie lies about her own identity and resists entry. When the health visitor returns with new information, she asserts knowledge that Maggie’s other children are in care and urges Maggie to bring the baby for a checkup. Mairead and her children visit the flat, and soon Social Services arrive, taking the baby into protective care—an action likely prompted by Mrs. Higgs’s complaints. Maggie’s distress grows, and she requires restraint as police detach the baby from the home.
To regain custody, Maggie endures a series of interviews with Social Services, maintaining a facade at first but eventually venting her long-held resentment toward the agency—rooted in a belief that they failed to remove her from a sexually abusive childhood home. In a subsequent trial, Mrs. Higgs testifies that Jorge has been physically abusive, though the truth of that claim becomes a point of contention. Jorge faces deportation papers when his employer reveals his status, which complicates the couple’s already fragile situation. The court ultimately rules that Maggie is an unfit mother, citing a lack of self-control, intellectual capacity, and willingness to cooperate with Social Services. Yet Jorge receives permission to remain in the country due to his good character and reaffirms his desire to stay with Maggie. A volatile reconciliation follows as Maggie experiences another pregnancy and, after the baby is born, Social Services returns with a further place-of-safety order.
In a final, painful sequence, Maggie contemplates leaping from a window but is sedated to prevent harm. The film then cuts to a concluded moment where Maggie and Jorge share one last confrontation, followed by a fragile reconciliation. The closing title card lingers over the last footage, leaving a final impression of a couple navigating love, trauma, and the push and pull of social services, migration, and family.
Notes on characters and casting (first-time mentions linked to actors):
- Maggie Conlan, Crissy Rock
- Jorge, Vladimir Vega
- Simon, Ray Winstone
- Mairead, Sandie Lavelle
- Mrs Higgs, Pamela Hunt
The emotional core remains Maggie’s struggle to protect her children while confronting the consequences of past traumas, the pressures of social services, and a fragile, evolving relationship with Jorge that tests both resilience and hope.
