The show is about the Bannon family, who all have strong spy links. The parents, Dirk and Talia, were once arch enemy spies, but fell in love and got married. They now have three children who have all been brought up with spy techniques as a matter of course.

Karen Cooper wants to domineer her family and believes she's its pillar. In fact she does everything wrong. Thus she messes up all their lives and futures, rather then help her loved-ones.

The daily soap that follows the loves, lives and misdemeanours of a group of people living in the Chester village of Hollyoaks where anything could, and frequently does, happen...