A rare venture into film noir by Hammer films, with Stanley Baker as tough police Inspector Martineau, a man dedicated to cleaning up the mean streets of Manchester. Martineau is put on the spot when an old adversary batters a prison warden to death and escapes. This will mean the death penalty if he's caught, and Martineau is assigned to the case.

Lancashire bootmaker Henry Horatio Hobson (Charles Laughton) keeps a tight rein on his three daughters, until his eldest, Maggie (Brenda De Banzie), marries his assistant Willie Mossop (John Mills) and sets him up in his own bootmaking firm. To Hobson's consternation, Willie has soon become his father-in-law's main business rival.

Lancashire bootmaker Henry Horatio Hobson (Charles Laughton) keeps a tight rein on his three daughters, until his eldest, Maggie (Brenda De Banzie), marries his assistant Willie Mossop (John Mills) and sets him up in his own bootmaking firm. To Hobson's consternation, Willie has soon become his father-in-law's main business rival.