In 2003 20 year old soldier Tom Keys and five others are shot dead in an ambush in Iraq. His parents, former paramedic Reg and Sally, are further appalled to learn that Tom and his colleagues were inadequately armed and equipped and Sally slips into an alcoholic depression, from which she will not recover. Reg, however, disgusted that Tony Blair, the prime minister, sent British troops into an unnecessary and arguably illegal war, is persuaded by former Labour member of parliament Bob Clay to stand against Blair as an independent candidate at the 2005 election for the constituency of Sedgefield.