Virgil Guppy buys a sleek-looking used Jaguar, but the car turns out to be a lemon. Unfortunately, that's just the start of his problems; a dead prostitute is discovered in the trunk, and Virgil is accused of her murder. Aided by a dysfunctional family of thieves, unorthodox police procedure and some clever body work of his own, he sets out to clear his name.

Stephen Lawrence was a black London teenager murdered by white racists in 1993. His parents fought to have the crime properly investigated, culminating in a judicial enquiry into the event itself and also the inadequacies of the ensuing investigation by the London Metropolitan Police.