In Lurgan, Northern Ireland, during 1975 and the Northern Irish Troubles, the Provisional Irish Republican Army are targeting British loyalists and the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force (1966) are exacting revenge on Catholics they claim are militant republicans. Alistair Little, 17, is the leader of a UVF cell, eager to let blood. He and his gang are given the go-ahead to kill a young Catholic man, James Griffin, as a reprisal and a warning to others. When they kill Griffin, his 8-year old little brother Joe watches in horror. Little is arrested and sentenced to prison for 12 years.