Notting Hill, in the year 1978. Dave Kelly and Andy Zymanczyk are two teenage boys trying to escape their secure, loving but oppressive Catholic backgrounds. Andy's life is even more stifling as the only child of very strict Polish parents. For the first time in his life, he is allowed to take a part-time job, and begins work at the beautiful Odeon cinema in Westbourne Grove, under the irresponsible but charismatic influence of the manager Tony Harris. The two friends begin a voyage of discovery: they learn about films, they learn about music, they learn about life and are exposed to a level of freedom and temptation that neither has ever known before. But in an era of great upheaval, their beloved cinema and their strict Catholic grammar school are both put under threat and they realise that their lives will never be the same again.