Radio host Alan 'Dickie' Bird witnesses how an icecream van is attacked and destroyed by angry competitors. This leads him into the struggle between two Italian families over the icecream market of Glasgow.

In the wake of their mother's death, two small boys are held captive to their father's grief. But when their mother's last wish heralds the arrival of their estranged grandmother, their fierce independence sets in motion a household power struggle that threatens to confront the ghosts of the past.