Factory worker Tom Curtis (Richard Attenborough) has two children and his wife, Anna (Pier Angeli), is pregnant, putting him under financial pressure. Consequently, he refuses to take part in an wildcat strike action, meaning a loss of wages, which he is entitled to do. The strike is planned by outside activist Travers (Alfred Burke) and orchestrated by shop steward Bert Connolly (Bernard Lee), who concocts spurious demands as part of his campaign to pressure the management into agreeing to a closed shop, giving the union greater influence.