Luke Kanowski is a young playwright: intense, magnetic, fleeing a disastrous upbringing in the North East. Arriving in London, he meets Paul Driscoll, an aspiring producer, and beautiful, fiery Leigh Radley. Luke, Paul and Leigh set up a radical theatre company, living and working together, a connection forged in the smoky late-nights of Chelsea's run-down flats and damp rehearsal rooms above pubs, candlelit during power cuts, where a new generation of writers and directors is fighting for its place. Nina Jacobs is a fragile actress, bullied by her mother and in thrall to a controlling producer. When Luke meets Nina he recognises a soul in danger and loyalty, friendship, everything he has fought for, is drawn into the heat of their collision