Glimpses of a Floating World

1963 and panic about the spread of heroin addiction in Britain. While the Profumo and Challenor scandals are exposing the dark underbelly of post-war Britain a teenage heroin and cocaine addict Ronnie Jarvis undergoes a cold turkey in prison. We are taken into a world of hard-drinking and marital violence and witness the boy’s frantic efforts to escape the influence of his father a senior police officer. . Guilty of a drug offence Ronnie is offered his freedom by Andrews a young and ambitious detective at West End Central if he will work as a police informer. Ronnie agrees believing he will find a way to con the police with false information. Andrews demands results and in desperation Ronnie makes up a story about illegal drugs importation. Subsequent police raids appear to be successful but senior policemen have planted the evidence for their own purposes. . Without knowing that his son is the police informant Commander Freddy Jarvis accepts a bribe from villains who intend to eliminate a grass. It is planned to take Ronnie out with a staged hit-and-run accident. Ronnie’s efforts to stay alive bring police operations in the West End into crisis.