FX UK

Synopsis

Amidst the weathered row houses and rust-barnacled tugboats that frame the decaying city of Providence, lies an Irish-American neighbourhood known as "The Hill". There, a tough, once thriving, blue-collar district is trying to stave off the onset of financial decay and the influences of outside forces who would exploit the weaknesses of a dying community. It is here, on The Hill, that two Brothers, Michael and Tommy Caffee, vie for control, face to face from opposite sides of the law. Representative Tommy Caffee (Jason Clarke) is a good man; a moral, family man and a rising star in the world of local politics, already representing his district in the State legislature. But much as he would resist, he is just one man against the system, and day by day Tommy Caffee is being dragged into the world of pork barrel politics and back room dealing, a necessary evil if he is look to his family and his neighbourhood. Michael Caffee (Jason Isaacs) is a gangster and a violent one at that. Returned to Providence after a seven year exile, Michael has come home to reclaim his control of the local gambling and protection rackets. Despite his criminal nature, Michael sees himself as a good man. He has no delusions about what it is that he does but his adherence to a strict, albeit twisted, moral code, in his mind at least, places him alongside his brother – his actions, like Tommy's, are motivated by a need to look after the community in which he grew up. Brotherhood is the story about the conflict between the Caffees' loyalty as brothers and their rivalry, the way that their sibling's very existence compromises their own. With Michael's return to the Hill, Tommy's career and family are put in harms way. For Michael, Tommy is a weakness and one he can't afford. Their distrust, even occasional hatred of each other test the unconditional limits of familial love and loyalty.