Mum and Dad, and their 'adopted' children, Birdie & Elbie, work at the airport. The family live off whatever they scavenge from cargo holds, offices and hotels - including a steady stream of transient workers who populate the airport's soulless hub. When Lena, a young Polish office cleaner, is befriended by Birdie, she gets drawn into a nightmarish world of torture, murder and perversity.

Richard, bored of his mundane existence as a cycle courier, attempts to make his film "A Distance Too Far" in a bid to escape to a better life. Driven by the belief that it will propel him, his friends and his girlfriend to fame and fortune, and the fear of ending up like his family, the completion of his 'masterpiece' becomes the sole focus of Richard's life.