In the mid 1960s, scores of refugees from India illegally came to England looking for a better life and found themselves living the very lives they sought to escape. This British drama, chronicles the daily existence of one household of these illegal refugees. The tale centers on Amir who journeys to a grungy northern English industrial town via vegetable crate with only a few dollars to his name. He ends up staying in a ramshackle house with 17 other illegals, all of them men. They lead a dreary life working in a factory filled with others like them. The only bright spot in their lives is a weekly outing to the local cinema that shows Indian films during the daytime. Occasionally a whore visits the house and provides the men with sexual release. The leader of the house is Hussein Shah, a traditional patriarch. Upon his arrival, Amir is befriended by Sakib, a student who shows him the basic ropes of English living. Despite their humble lives, the men get on well. But one day, Hussein brings home a new illegal alien, a lovely blonde woman from Ireland and trouble ensues. The woman is unmarried and pregnant. To help her, Hussein allows a marriage of convenience between the woman and his smart-alecky nephew Irshad. The baby is born, but more trouble ensues when Hussein begins objecting to the woman's free-spirited ways, and his nephew's lack of respect.