Born in London's East End ten years before the General Strike, Frank Clancy and Dick Holt are boyhood friends. As they grow up they are both determined to make their way to the top in Fleet Street.

In the 1930s, Clancy, in dire need of money, is given a job by a right-wing politician — who has a secret agenda.

Holt has discovered evidence of an atrocity committed by American troops in Vietnam — can he persuade Clancy to publish the story when no one else will?