In the post-pandemic world of 2024 during an upcoming British general election involving the UK’s first Black Conservative prime minister, a leading team of analysts at the heart of the UK’s NSA-style spy agency GCHQ attempt to ward off a cyber-attack on the country’s electoral system.

A man and his wife, who are proprietors of a struggling window-covering business, agree to install curtains in an exclusive club patronized by a wealthy friend of theirs. After completing the job, the shop owner has great difficulty collecting payment for the job. His "friend" becomes scarce and Spall finds he has no legal foot to stand on since there is no written record of the informal transaction. With the couple's business floundering due to mounting debts, and their former friend's crass attitude towards their predicament, anger and frustration reach the boiling point.