The film examines the complexities in the friendship of two teenage boys: Joseph, who is thirteen, introspective, shy with girls and whose father owns a factory in Hythe; and Peter, who is fourteen, more extrovert, confident with girls and whose father is an employee and shop-steward in the factory which Joseph's father owns. The film explores the development of their relationship in a way which reveals such friendship to be a sensitive and valuable experience, often more important than parents realise.