Plot Summary Typeit

The play opens with the narrator telling us what will happen: 'the Johnstones died, Never knowing that they shared one name' (Act 1, p. 5).

We find out that Mrs struggles to pay for food: 'No money, no milk' (Act 1, p. 7). She gets a job cleaning for Mrs .

Mrs Lyons puts a pair of on the table, and Mrs Johnstone tells her to 'take them off... You never know what'll happen' (Act 1, p. 9). The narrator explains that there is a superstition telling us that it will bring bad luck.

Mrs Johnstone finds out that she is expecting twins. Mrs Lyons persuades Mrs Johnstone to give one of the twins to her as she desperately wants a baby but can't have children: '(containing her excitement) Give one of them to me... You said yourself, you said you had too many children already' (Act 1, pp. 11–12). She reminds Mrs Johnstone, 'Already you're being threatened by the welfare people', and says that having two more children will mean 'some of them being put into ' (Act 1, p. 12). Mrs Johnstone knows that Mrs Lyons would give the baby everything he could ever want, so she agrees.

years pass. and meet and realise they were born on the same day. They decide to become '' (Act 1, p. 30). Mrs Johnstone meets Edward and realises who he is. She tells him, 'Don't you ever come round here again' (Act 1, p. 33). Mrs Lyons meets Mickey and realises who he is. She tells Edward 'never to go... where boys like that live', and that Edward is 'not the same as him' (Act 1, pp. 36–37).

Edward sneaks out to play with Mickey and Linda. They get caught throwing stones at windows and are taken home by a policeman. Mr and Mrs Lyons decide to move house. Mrs Johnstone gives Edward a ; Edward gives Mickey a toy gun. Mrs Johnstone wishes that she could move her family somewhere new, 'where we can begin again' (Act 1, p. 48). She gets her wish and they leave 'this mess for our new address' (Act 1, p. 55).

Act 2 begins years later. It turns out that the Johnstones have moved near to where the Lyons now live. Edward and Mickey meet. Edward wishes he was more like Mickey, and Mickey wishes he was more like Edward: 'If I was like... him' (Act 2, p. 71). Mrs Lyons sees them together and goes to confront Mrs Johnstone. She offers her money to leave, but Mrs Johnstone refuses. Mrs Lyons says, 'I curse the day I met you. You ruined me' (Act 2, p. 79). It is revealed that Mrs Lyons has mental ill health.

Edward leaves for university. Before he goes, Mickey and become a couple. Shortly afterwards, Linda becomes pregnant and they get married. Mickey loses his job and struggles to find another one. Edward comes home from university for the Christmas holidays; he's had a 'fantastic' time (Act 2, p. 91). He argues with Mickey about the importance of having a job. The difference between their lives is very clear at this point in the play. Mickey says to Edward, 'You don't understand anythin' do ye?' (Act 2, p. 92). He accuses Edward of still being a child while he had grown up. 

Edward tells Linda that he loves her – 'I've always loved you, you must have known that' (Act 2, p. 93) – but she tells him that she is already married and expecting a baby. Meanwhile, Mickey is persuaded to keep lookout while his brother, , robs a garage: 'Fifty quid for an hour's work. Just think where y' could take Linda if you had cash like that' (Act 2, p. 94). They get caught and sent to prison. While Mickey is in prison he starts taking antidepressants: 'He sits and counts the days to go And treats his ill with daily pills' (Act 2, p. 97). When he is released from prison, he struggles to stop taking the pills. 

Mickey is released from prison and given a job and a house by Edward, who is now Councillor Lyons. We discover that Linda has been having an affair with Edward: 'a half-remembered song Comes to her lips again... It's just two fools, Who know the rules, But break them all' (Act 2, p. 102). tells Mickey. Mickey takes the gun that Sammy had hidden at his mother's house and goes to the town hall, where he knows Edward will be. He confronts Edward saying, 'how come you got everything... an' I got nothin'?' (Act 2, p. 105). The police arrive, followed by Mrs Johnstone. She tells them that they are brothers and Mickey is furious: '(He stands glaring at her, almost uncontrollable with rage)' (Act 2, p. 106). He says, 'I could have been... I could have been him!' (Act 2, p. 106). On the word '' Mickey waves the gun at Edward and it goes off. Edward is killed. Mickey is then shot dead by the police.

The play ends with the narrator wondering whether or social class was to blame.