After being gone for 20 years, brothers have a chance to talk once again at a funeral they have both come to attend. However, before you know whether or not they can patch things up, you learn through a series of flashbacks what had happened. It seemed there was a strike and one brother chose to become a "scab". In other words, he broke with his union brothers and crossed a picket line in order to feed his family. It's obvious he's now racked with guilt and it looks as if there is no way to mend lost relationships.
The film was made in the UK where strikes in the 1970s and 80s were pretty bad. This sense of pain and loss is accentuated here by the music as well as the stark cinematography and muted acting. A very good film.
