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In 2007 11 year old Rhys Jones, living with parents Mel and Steve, is inexplicably shot dead walking home from football practice. Newly-promoted superintendent Dave Kelly leads the murder enquiry, discovering that Rhys's older brother Owen was in a gang and suspects turf warfare in which Rhys was innocently caught up. Meanwhile teenager Sean Mercer hides a gun and an anonymous caller names Mercer and two fellow gang members as the culprits. However Dave is unable to gather sufficient evidence to charge them.
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As Rhys's family attends his funeral Mercer's friends Dean Kelly, James Yates and Nathan Quinn all alibi each other, Yates disposing of anything to incriminate him. A bug on Yates' house leads Dave to another of their circle, Jordan Olssen, who bullies his mother Claire - Claire's statement going some way to discredit the gang's stories though Dave still has no clear evidence to make an arrest. A raid on the house of dim teen-ager Kevin Moody recovers the suspected murder weapon and Dave gambles on him incriminating the others in exchange for immunity from prosecution but tests on the gun prove to be inconclusive.
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Dave believes he has a lead when Kevin Moody, encouraged by his sister Sandra, admits to the police that Mercer gave him the gun but the crown prosecutor still feels there is insufficient evidence to proceed. Dave hopes this will make the culprits more confident about getting away with it and steps up his pursuit. There is a set-back when Claire Olssen is bullied by the killer's family and gang into giving a false alibi so that Dave is relieved when Kevin finally agrees to enter witness protection and names Mercer and his associates, thus making arrests possible.
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Mercer and his accomplices - Kelly, Olssen, Quinn and Yates - are brought to trial, where they show no respect for the court, laughing, smirking and throwing paper planes. Mel is upset when the judge requests she stops crying lest it influence the jury but Dave explains that the defendants are receiving no such warnings so that the jury can see their true natures. Nonetheless she and Steve are troubled that the defending barristers seem to be successfully discrediting the prosecution witnesses. However the testimonies of the brave Claire Olssen and redemption-seeking Kevin, given anonymously on CCTV, plus the defendants' refusal to take the stand, swing the jurors into recording a verdict of guilty with the boys' lying families also being convicted. After the trial Dave takes early retirement but continues to remain friends with Mel and Steve.
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