 Essex crime king-pin Don Paice crashes into depression after the death of his wife and hires a hit-man to dispose of himself, deciding that he has nothing left in this life worth living for. On discovering that his wife mothered a son of his, that he knew nothing about, he has a change of heart about his fate. The hit-man, however, has been ordered to do the job no matter what - ironically; by Paice himself.