What do you do when your wife Iona Aylesbury (Kristin Scott Thomas) can’t tell the difference between a shrink and a shop, your eight year old son Orlando may have serious psychological problems, while his beloved gay godfather Stephen (Ralph Fiennes) lies half beaten to death in hospital? Your boss is drawing you into a scam which could cost you your career, your father Edward Aylesbury expects more of you than you feel you can deliver while your stepmother Penelope's (Harriet Walter) relationship with her dogs may have taken the place of her marriage to your father. And what are the secrets of streetwalker Gloria (Penelope Cruz) that her social worker Colin (Rhys Ifans) is digging up – and what could they possibly have to do with you? Every family has secrets it hides behind the walls of its home - these are the dilemmas and secrets of Marcus Aylesbury (Damian Lewis). When Marcus’s old ‘friend’ Trent (Ben Chaplin), an intelligent investigative journalist, gets wind of a story that might make him a media star the good old virtues of honesty, loyalty and friendship are sacrificed to the new morality of success and celebrity. Pushed by his powerhouse editor, Trent is forced to bend his ideals of using journalism to make a difference - and instead focuses on writing ‘sexy stories that sell’. This darkly comedic drama relentlessly pulls these characters into situations which threaten their stable place in a society where privilege and birth are no longer powerful enough to protect the fortunate few, and where the American values of money, beauty and success have become the cornerstones of contemporary London life.