The first episode begins in December 2010 as the city council discovers it faces a £36m shortfall to its £210m annual budget. No service is safe from the axe in Stoke. The leader of the council, Mohammed Pervez, who is leading his own local coalition, is left with the unenviable task of deciding what to chop.

The city's residents begin to feel the true extent of the 700 job losses and £36million in spending cuts approved by the council, including the closure of swimming pools, public toilets, libraries and the city farm, but with the local elections looming, politicians have to face up to the consequences of their decisions. The news arrives that a care home is being closed and its vulnerable patients evicted, making the employees worried about their futures.

The council leader and the chief executive are under pressure to reclaim unpaid council tax, which amounts to £20million and could ease the pain of another year of scathing budget cuts. Meanwhile, a local vicar seeks help to keep one of the country's oldest Victorian swimming pools open.