A young man spends most of his time recording self-tapes for parts he never gets. After multiple rejections for a series of nightmarish commercial auditions, he takes it upon himself to find a new part to play.

Manchester, 1976. Tony Wilson is an ambitious but frustrated local TV news reporter looking for a way to make his mark. After witnessing a life-changing concert by a band known as the Sex Pistols, he persuades his station to televise one of their performances, and soon Manchester's punk groups are clamoring for him to manage them. Riding the wave of a musical revolution, Wilson and his friends create the legendary Factory Records label and The Hacienda club.

Rita witnesses a murder, and believing she and her family are now in danger, she goes on the run with her daughter Leah and her elderly neighbour Lizzie. In hiding from the police and the villains, Rita resorts to shoplifting in order to survive.