The boys grow up apart and are brought up completely differently. Mrs Johnston named the twin that stayed with her Mickey and Mrs Lyons named her child Edward. By chance, the boys meet and they play together. They become friends – ‘blood brothers’. Mrs Johnston sees the two boys together, and, realising who Edward is, she frightfully warns Mickey not to go near the area the boys met in the hope that this will keep them apart. Later that day however, Mickey appears at Eddie’s house, and when Mrs Lyons discovers who he is, she sends Mickey away. Eddie then has a huge argument with his mother which end in him telling her he likes Mickey more than her. She then lectures him explaining why she does not want him hanging round ‘filth’ like Mickey.
Mickey and Eddie continue play together as they grow up. They become friends with a girl named Linda. Mrs Lyons is still concerned about the people her son is mixing with. She decides to move to the country. Ironically however, the thing she is so desperate to get away from, ‘follows’ her. The Johnstons’ move into a new council estate at the bottom of the hill that the Lyon’s household is perched on. Mrs Lyons discovers this and begins to have a mental breakdown. Meanwhile, Mickey and Linda become increasingly close and begin to have a ‘thing’ for each other and Mickey and Eddie’s friendship is as strong as ever.
At the age of 17, both boys have left school and Eddie leaves town for university. He manages to get Mickey and Linda together and everything seems to be going well for the three of them.
At Christmas time however, Eddie returns to find Mickey unemployed and Linda pregnant. Unimpressed with the welcome, Eddie tries to get Mickey to have a laugh - to no prevail. Mickey snaps and argues with Eddie. Returning home, Mickey has another argument with Linda in which he reveals that he believes Eddie is to blame for everything that has went wrong. The argument escalates and Mickey ends up going off in search of Eddie.
Mickey turns up at Eddie’s house with a gun and threatens to shoot him. The gun is actually a fake, but before he has chance to explain this, Mrs Johnston appears begging Mickey not to shoot and revealing that the two boys are in fact her twins. Then Mrs Lyons appears, who being completely mad by this time, fires her own real gun at Mickey. Eddie Dives in front of the bullet and gets shot. Mrs Lyons then turns the gun on Mickey and he is also shot. The play ends as Mickey and Eddie lie dead on the floor.
