A bare-knuckle fight on a patch of waste ground. A hard, bruising, savage battle between Welsh Dave and Jim Larkin - who is watched and hero-worshipped by his grandson, the 13-year-old Joe Henshaw. But Joe's childhood is soon to come to a shattering end.

After demob, a restless Joe Henshaw returns to Collyhurst. The Kilbride family is in trouble - Martin is still in Strangeways, Martha is badly in debt and Irene has disappeared. Joe sets out to find her

A dispute on the site, and the employers bring in scab labour. The attempt to make the strike official involves Joe once more with Sarah

The strike going badly; a sudden illness; and a career taking off. Joe is learning fast, but the lessons are uncomfortable ones.

Joe is torn between Sarah's ambitions, Pawsey's idealism and Martin's schemes for making money. But it is to be through his grandfather that he makes the significant discovery.