Jamal, a seventeen year old boy has grown up in London; his parents migrated from Jamaica to give their children a better life. His father died at a young age, resulting in this, his mother has had to take up three jobs in order to provide him and his sister with basic essentials.

He currently lives in a council flat in Roehampton. The gang culture in his area is on the rise and effects local residents. At the age of 13, he is targeted by a local gang. One of the olders of the gang sees that he is weak and takes the opportunity to use him by offering him some brotherly guidance. At first he's apprehensive because of his experience with male figures in his life. After the passing of Jamal's father, his mother had been involved in abusive relationships.

Jamal begins to hang around with Marcus a lot more often. Being a gang member he spends a lot more time on the streets. The longer he associates himself with this gang; the gang begin to use him for shop lifting and a number of petty crimes. Marcus begins to have strong influence on Jamal which starts to have a detrimental effect on his behavior and attitude. Jamal begins to experience firsthand violence from the gang member towards outsiders.

One day whilst the gang walk down the estate they come across a nitty who owes Marcus money and has been avoiding to pay. The gang decide to take matter into their own hands. The gang huddle around him in an alley interrogating, terrorizing and beating him up. Marcus orders Jamal to attack him to exhibit the kind of authority he has and that he doesn't like being disrespected.

Jamal follows the instructions he has been given, but to his surprise he is stuck in a difficult situation, where Marcus hands a knife to Jamal, implying that he should stab the victim. Jamal knows what Marcus is asking of him is wrong but he gives into the peer pressure as he regards the group as a 'family' and doesn’t want to do anything that would cause him to be rejected.

Jamal eventually takes the weapon, repeatedly stabbing the victim, he is too overwhelmed with what he has just done and does not realise that the rest of the members have already left. He finally snaps back to reality and runs away leaving the victim lying there struggling for his life.

The following day, he hears the radio reporting the death of a young teen in the local area. He panics as he knows he is responsible. He calls Marcus for advice but he cannot get through to him. In a panic he rushes out of his house to go to Marcus’s but on his way he is confronted by the police