Pat (Cassie McFarlane), an ordinary London girl with a caring family, a job she enjoys and her own flat, seeks nothing more than to settle down to a life of married, middle-class conformity. Her cosy world is jolted when she meets Del (Victor Romero), a charming and vaguely discontented toolmaker, who soon moves in and then loses his job causing them both to challenge their assumptions about each other and their aspirations.

Burning an Illusion, the pioneering first feature from Menelik Shabazz marks a coming of age for black British cinema. A film about transformation and identity, this sensitive and entertaining love story traces the emotional and political growth of a young black couple in Thatcher's London.