Stephen James finds communicating with people difficult. When he is accused of a serious crime, he ends up in a police cell in the small valleys' town of Ynys. He insists that not only is he innocent but that it is he who is the victim, leading to confusion by those in authority.

His efforts to tell his story fall on deaf ears, those who should be helping caught up in their own struggles. He manages to break free of the religious stranglehold his mother has subjected him to and starts to take an interest in birds. He is captivated by his father's stories about messenger pigeons during the First World War.

Stephen accidentally gets caught up in the affairs of the town's high-class 'Gentlemen's Club' and the local underworld, leading him to believe that he has solved a violent crime. The fact that he is obsessed with police programmes and wrestling doesn't help his cause.

He is befriended by Frank Williams, a pigeon fancier, who takes him under his wing and he finds his own unique way of telling his side of the story.