A young Rastafarian toaster with Reggae Sound System Ital Lion, hopes to rise above the trials of his daily life and succeed at a Sound System competition.

South London, 1980. Reggae sound system Ital Lion win through to the finals of a sound clash. Their competitors will be the long established outfit of Jah Shaka. Ital Lion crew include the toaster (rapper) David 'Blue', roadie and driver Beefy, electrical wizard Spark, ladies man 'Lover', leader of the crew Dreadhead, hustler and fixer Errol and Blue's friend, Ronnie, a white guy who accompanies the crew to their dances.

Blue lives with his mother and school dodging younger brother Carlton on an estate in South London. This morning, having failed to persuade his brother to go to school, he arrives late at the garage where his colleague and good friend Ronnie is too stoned to work. Alan, the boss, is unsympathetic to Blue's complaints of overwork and sacks him, amidst a volley of racist insults...