Jack (Bob Hoskins) is consumed by guilt and past regret. His strained relationship with his son is severed on the death of his wife. Jack is lost and alone in his self loathing, abated by goading from local youths. A ray of sunshine arrives in the unlikely form of eight year old, Florrie, when she moves in next door and delights in Jack's neglected racing pigeons, unwittingly rekindling his own love for the birds. When his glamorous French neighbour, Stephanie (Josiane Balasko) takes pity on him, Jack cannot help but fall for her charms. Encouraged by Stephanie, Jack helps give purpose to a local hooligan (Jody Latham) by giving him Ruby, one of his racing pigeons. When gradually his innocent friendship with Florrie is thrown into question when the girl goes missing and Stephanie reveals a well kept secret, Jack's life is thrown into turmoil once again. When his son and Stephanie come to his defence amidst the local mob mentality, Jack finally redeems himself with a heartfelt plea of forgiveness to his son and faces his own prejudices to win back Stephanie's love.