When 14-year-old Ronnie Winslow (Guy Edwards) is expelled from the Royal Naval College for theft, his father, Arthur (Nigel Hawthorne), is convinced that Ronnie was wrongly accused. After acquiring the talented lawyer Sir Robert Morton (Jeremy Northam), Arthur doggedly pursues the case, which becomes a sensationalized public story. As the case wears on, the Winslows' finances are drained, adversely affecting the older Winslow children, Dickie (Matthew Pidgeon) and Catherine (Rebecca Pidgeon).