Liverpool, Autumn 2019. Sarah (Jodie Comer), unsupported at home and with a history of school exclusion, finds a job as a care home assistant. She’s a natural. Sarah cares for Tony (Stephen Graham), a man with young-onset Alzheimers, and they forge an unlikely bond over the card game 'Shithead'.
March 2020. Covid hits the UK and hospital patients (mostly untested) are shunted into care homes to make space for critical cases. There is minimal personal protection equipment and insufficient funds and staff to deal with the growing onslaught of illness. Horrified at the spiralling death rate of her vulnerable patients and colleagues and desperate to save Tony from catching the virus, Sarah makes a snap decision. She springs Tony and they go on the run.
