A defense attorney begins to suspect that her client, who is charged with the murders of a vacationing family, might be more than meets the eye.

The personal story of the young student Felix Goldschmidt, who finds himself arrested for a crime he does not understand, like his fellow prisoners, he believes at first that he the victim of a mistake. But Red Gloves is also a political story, describing how a totalitarian state imposes itself by fear, rooting out individuals almost randomly and demanding their submission. By cutting back to scenes from the old life of Felix, the author manages to achieve balance and contrast with the suffocating atmosphere of the prison. We are shown our hero as an idealistic young man, searching for love and fulfillment.

Professor of language and philosophy Dominic Matei is struck by lightning and ages backwards from 70 to 40 in a week, attracting the world and the Nazis. While on the run, the professor meets a young woman who has her own experience with a lightning storm. Not only does Dominic find love again, but her new abilities hold the key to his research.

Matt Lucas as a marvellous Toad, Mark Gatiss as a spiky rat, Lee Ingleby as a nervous Mole, and Bob Hoskins as a grumpy old Badger make a classy cast within yet another version of Kenneth Grahame's classic book.