Brendan (Robbie Coltrane) is a janitor at a university who has a fondness for gambling on the horses. The problem is, he doesn't have much skill at it, and poorly considered bets have drained all the money he'd set aside for his daughter's education. Brendan's wife (Brenda Blethyn) has made Brendan promise to give up gambling, but when their daughter announces she's just been accepted to Trinity College in Ireland, Brendan has to come up with the tuition money, and fast! While doing his sweeping at work, Brendan makes a remarkable discovery; the preserved head of an aboriginal tribesman, which under proper conditions, can pick the winners in horse races...
Brendan must protect 'Bobby' from a civil servant who wants to return him to his tribe and from a group of gangsters who want to use his special powers....