London in the late 1950s. The East End is ripe for redevelopment: corruption is rife and the old guard are on their way out. When Alf Marx, "King of the East End", is sent down for life, a new breed of gangster appears and the battle for the East End begins. Chief Superintendent Frederick Troy is caught in the cross fire - quite literally - when he is hit by the blast from a car bomb. His girlfriend and his boss want him to retire, but then his past emerges in the form of an old mistress, and the things he did as a young man return to haunt him. It is time for Troy to return to the fray.