London, the early 1990s. Young homeless people use a puppy to tug pedestrians's heartstrings.

Kaz is a young woman rejected by her mother and raped by her mother's lover. Living on the streets, she fleeces men of money in exchange for promises of sex that she fails to fulfil.

Gypo is another outcast, abandoned by his family and even rejected by the manager of a local shelter for homeless youth. His belligerent and self-destructive behaviour is similar to that of Nosty, a crazed denizen of the streets. Nosty is the leader of a small gang that boasts IRA connections. He is resolutely rejected by police and even by physicians. He demands money that Gypo owes him. Gypo gives him the money Kaz had taken from her last 'client' and masturbates him under threat.

In a homeless shelter , young people are admonished, "No drugs, no alcohol, no weapons" when admitted. The pedantic Sean demands that Gypo leave since, he claims, Gypo has a lodging, and does not qualify as 'homeless.' In a rage, Gypo refuses to put on his clothes, overturns the furniture in the sleeping room, and is threatened with ejection by police.

On the streets again, Gypo and Kaz encounter Nosty, who takes them to a restaurant where he and his cohorts terrorise the owner and Nosty plunges a broken bottle into his own chest as his gang cheers. His self-mutilation is a strategy to gain admission to hospital (his eighth time). The doctor openly wishes for his death.

Following a brutal rape by one of her clients, Kaz begs Gypo to take her to his flat. There they play music, dance, drink, snort drugs, and duel over the thermostat. This playful occasion ends when Gypo wants to join Kaz in a bath and makes sexual overtures to her. She rejects him and they leave the flat in a rage with each other.

Kaz's anger culminates in a visit to her mother's house, where she angrily rips her mother's wedding dress to shreds and is raped by her mother's lover. When her mother arrives, she tells Kaz that she isn't welcome.

Nosty and his gang are evicted from the streets by police and, after a battle, Nosty and Gypo - a bystander to the skirmish - spend the night in jail, where Nosty, bragging about his scars, asks Gypo if he thinks he's 'normal'. For Nosty, the lock up is 'safe'. Upon release, Gypo roams the streets looking for Kaz, who has returned to the shelter.

Gypo is denied entry to the shelter by Sean. Gypo burns down his flat, and returns to demand admission as a homeless person, kicking and banging his head against the door, and creating pandemonium inside and outside the shelter. Kaz comes out to inform him that she wants to remain inside.

Just as Nosty had, Gypo plunges a broken bottle into his body, but his wound is potentially lethal, severing his carotid artery. Kaz and another traumatised young man, Duggie, find Gypo prostrate, and Duggie is finally motivated to take action. He presses the buzzer for entrance to the shelter and calls for help.