Here is a bleak tale about a wee lad of 12 who faces a bleak future against a bleak background of poverty and depression in bleak old Glasgow. The film begins in innocence and tragedy and moves toward experience and tragedy. The kids in the neighbourhood hang about the canal. There is a garbage strike in Glasgow. Piles of rubbish are everywhere.
Rubbish fires happen daily.
The local thugs terrorize Kenny. James' father drinks. James has head lice. Just by chance, James finds a magical place when he travels by bus to a new housing development built at the edge of open fields. The houses have sinks and tubs and toilets.