Phil Daniels is the pent-up, parka wearing, pill-popping Jimmy whose need for tribal acceptance leaves his relationships in tatters. Based on the Who album, the gritty youth-centric realism blends laughs with symbolism, psychology and some driving rock music.

In 1964 London, Jimmy Cooper (Phil Daniels), is a member of a mod gang, well-dressed youths who ride Lambretta scooters. The mods are always fighting with Rockers, who wear black leather, ride motorcycles. Disillusioned by his parents and a dead end job in an advertising firm, Jimmy only finds an outlet for his teenage angst with his mod pals Dave (Mark Wingett), Chalky (Philip Davis) and Spider (Gary Shail). A three-day bank holiday is the excuse for the rivalry between the two gangs to come to a head, as they both descend upon the seaside town of Brighton.

When the armies of mods and rockers meet the next morning in Brighton, a riot breaks out first in a caf