Twenty-year-old Cal returns from France to Britain after receiving news that his mother is ill. His finds his home city of Bristol facing hard economic times brought on by the global economic crisis, with poverty and crime on the rise and rioting and looting almost a nightly occurrence. It is not a warm homecoming as his sick mother remains stubbornly homophobic and wants nothing to do with the now openingly gay Cal while his battered Auntie Jane, now living in a run down council house, dulls her stagnation with welfare funded booze and disturbing attempts to sexually seduce her nephew. Navigating his way across this new landscape he meets a young student who needs his help. However his act of kindness brings him into contact with a lawless drug dealing pimp and a race against time to make peace with his mother and get out of town as quickly as possible. An intense tale of a family mired in poverty, angry and lost but still searching for love, respect and acceptance.

卡尔（韦恩维果 Wayne Virgo 饰）18岁即成为街头飞仔。"疯姑娘"内萨（爱丽丝·佩恩 Alice Payne 饰）和英俊型男乔诺（汤姆·博特 Tom Bott 饰）率领着他这样的青少年横行街头殴打弱小，并拍下来上传到视频网站。卡尔隐藏着一个秘密：他是同志，并且暗恋着乔诺。某天内萨毒打了一个文静法国学生奥利弗（马克·洛朗特 Marc Laurent 饰），卡尔对奥利弗产生莫名好感，他救下后者却得罪了整个黑帮，被迫和奥利弗一起躲藏逃命。内萨和乔诺闯进卡尔的公寓，发现了那些同志视频。在发动帮派追杀卡尔的同时，乔诺与内萨疯狂做爱，只为隐藏他对卡尔的感觉。他们劫持了奥利弗，迫使卡尔来到荒芜的废墟，炽爱情仇顿时化作汹涌刀锋...... Shank在英国口语中表示匕首、尖刀的意思，本片是一部涉及同性爱、街头暴力、毒品酒精的青春残酷电影。