Daniel Blake (Dave Johns), 59, is a carpenter who needs to apply for social assistance for the first time in his life due to heart problems. Although his doctor forbade him to continue working, he decided to find a job at the risk of being fined. In his repeated visits to the "Employment Center" to find a job, he met Katie (Hayley Squires), a single mother who needed to take care of two children. In order to prevent her children from being placed in a children's welfare home, she had to live in a house 450 kilometers away from her birthplace. The cumbersome procedures of today's British administrative agencies are like a net that firmly traps the two. Daniel and Katie decided to try to help each other...