Plot summary

In Glasgow, Robbie Emerson has had a thus far troubled, short life, and with the exception of the one incident, albeit extremely violent, that has him in front of a judge once again, he seems to have been trying to get his life on track, that time coinciding with the discovery that his girlfriend, Leonie, will within days give birth to their baby. That latter information is just enough for the judge to sentence him to three hundred hours of community payback rather than to custodial service. Regardless of Robbie's determination to go on the straight and narrow for the sake of his baby, others don't want to see him succeed, such as Leonie's father who wants him out of her life, his latest victim and his family, the victim who has suffered permanent physical damage, and a number of his long term adversaries, who see him as a target as long as he is not in custody. In addition, Leonie has a one strike policy for Robbie in wanting him part of their life but not at any cost. Through this time, he befriends a number of his fellow community paybackers - most specifically Albert, Rhino and Mo - who, unlike him, are/were proverbial losers in their choices that got them to this point in their life. Robbie is also mentored by Harry, who is overseeing most of their collective community payback, and who does whatever he can to ensure that Robbie has the opportunities to make it out the other end a productive member of society. It is in Harry being a whiskey aficionado that they all learn that Robbie has an extremely keen palate when it comes to whiskey. While Robbie is close to being sucked back into a life of crime and violence at the hands of those against him, he begins to believe his best option for coming out in tact with Leonie and their baby revolves around Thaddeus, a whiskey collector he meets, and learning of the discovery of a rare cask of "priceless" whiskey that will soon be coming up for auction.—Huggo