Set in '70s Kingston and '80s Hackney, Yardie centres on the life of a young Jamaican man named D, who has never fully recovered from the murder, committed during his childhood, of his older brother Jerry Dread. D grows up under the wing of a Kingston Don and music producer named King Fox. Fox dispatches him to London, where he reconnects with his childhood sweetheart, Yvonne, and his daughter who he's not seen since she was a baby. He also hooks up with a soundclash crew, called High Noon. But before he can be convinced to abandon his life of crime and follow "the righteous path", he encounters the man who shot his brother 10 years earlier, and embarks on a bloody, explosive quest for retribution - a quest which brings him into conflict with vicious London gangster Rico.
London, 1965: Like many other youths, Jimmy hates the philistine life, especially his parents and his job in a company's mailing division. Only when he's together with his friends, a 'Mod' clique, cruising London on his motor-scooter and hearing music such as that of 'The Who' and 'The High Numbers', does he feel free and accepted. However, it's a flight into an illusionary world.