The 51st State

In 1971, Elmo McElroy is pulled over for driving under the influence of marijuana. He is arrested and convicted, which blocks his chances of working as a pharmacologist. The setback sets him on a path toward entanglement with criminal elements that shapes the rest of his story.

In the present day, the drug lord the Lizard calls a meeting with his colleagues to push a new substance Elmo has supposedly created. Pudsey, Durant's chemist, provides a second opinion that corroborates the drug's potency. Durant offers Elmo over a million dollars in bonds to seal the deal, foreshadowing big stakes even before negotiations begin.

During the meeting, Elmo detonates a blast to escape from the Lizard's manipulation, killing everyone in the building except the Lizard. The act shatters the negotiation and redefines the balance of power around POS 51. The incident makes Elmo's willingness to use drastic means undeniable.

On a roof across the street, Dakota, acting on the Lizard's orders, is prepared to shoot Elmo but the hit is canceled until the formula is secured. Instead, Dakota kills everyone else, leaving Durant, Elmo, and a wounded Felix alive. The attack triggers a city-wide chase as investigators close in.

Elmo arrives at the meeting with Durant and presents POS 51, a synthetic drug said to be 51 times as potent as others. Pudsey confirms the claim, reinforcing Durant's interest. Because the payment is $18 million short of the agreed total, Elmo refuses to sell.

As Elmo and Felix leave the hotel, skinheads attack them in the street. Elmo uses a golf club to fend off the assailants, buying time to slip away. Detective Virgil Kane and his partner Arthur arrive and pursue, but Elmo lures them into a dangerous game of chicken and escapes.

Kane and Arthur return to the scene and pressure Durant's operation, demanding a 50% share of the deal. A miscommunication among the players leads to Durant's death, unraveling the arrangement and escalating the chase for Elmo. The loss deepens the conflict between the police and criminal factions.

Felix contacts Iki, a gun-dealing club owner and drug distributor, offering him the POS 51 formula for £20 million. Elmo and Felix begin gathering the necessary ingredients, all over-the-counter products, to manufacture the drug. The looming deal draws attention and increases the risk as the situation grows more volatile.

The group travels to a site they believe is a lab, but it turns out to be a broken-in animal testing facility. Elmo and Felix manufacture two POS 51 batches, blue and red, and plan a big distribution. Elmo reveals the red pill's claimed strength but secretly foils its effects as a laxative, enabling a quick escape while the skinheads party.

At Iki's rave club, Elmo initiates the deal and delivers the drug to the waiting crowd. Kane and the police interrupt the deal and arrest Felix. Dawn, whose real name is Dakota, abducts Elmo and they escape via the roof, but Elmo overpowers her and they strike a deal to slip past Kane.

Kane blackmails Felix during interrogation and forces himself into the Iki deal, which Felix sets up. The power balance shifts as law enforcement and criminal interests collide, tightening the net on Elmo. The move recalibrates the final terms of the POS 51 operation.

Felix, Elmo, and Dawn meet Iki in a private viewing box at Anfield during a Liverpool match. The Lizard interrupts, kills Iki, and demands the formula. Elmo reveals POS 51 is a placebo—the Power of Suggestion—and a cocktail of his explosive brew kills the Lizard, while Kane is knocked unconscious and arrested as the trio exits unscathed.

Dawn and Felix settle into a life together after the chaos. Elmo buys the Scottish Highlands castle of the Chief of Clan McElroy and proclaims the tartan of his former slave master as his own, signaling a new era of control and identity.