Fifteen-year-old Holly Sykes is passionately in love with a car salesman named Vinny Costello. She suspects that her mother, Kath, knows about her boyfriend, but she doesn’t mind it since Vinny has promised to take her away from her hometown of Gravesend, Kent, in England.

Kath confronts Holly about her late arrival home the night before. Holly claims to have been at her friend Stella’s, but her mother called Stella’s house and knows Holly wasn’t there. Holly was seen half-naked in Vinny’s house. Kath notes the age gap between Vinny and Holly, stressing that Holly is still a minor. The argument ends with Kath slapping Holly.

Holly starts gathering her things to run away to Vinny’s. Her eccentric little brother Jacko comes into her room and gives her a maze as a parting gift. He instructs her to memorize its layout to avoid being caught by something he refers to as The Dusk. Holly reassures him that they’ll still see each other, but Jacko disregards this.

Leaving the house, Holly fantasizes starting a band with Vinny and shocking Kath with a television appearance. She passes Ed Brubeck, a loner from school, as well as her eldest brother, Brendan, to whom she pretends that nothing is wrong.