The story of barbaric murders committed in the midst of a rural community in Joyce Country, on the border between counties Galway and Mayo in 1882 and the subsequent trial in Dublin. The trial led to the unjust hanging or life imprisonment of innocent people based on the testimonies of false witnesses and the dishonesty of the British authorities and the gentry.

The Queen -v- Patrick O'Donnell reveals on screen for the first time the true story behind one of the most compelling murder plots in Irish history, a thrilling tale of violence, courtroom drama, romance and political intrigue. Containing evidence from British Home Office files kept secret for 100 years, it reveals shocking new information about the fate of the quiet-spoken Donegal man who killed the infamous informer James Carey on board a ship off the coast of South Africa in 1883. What possessed the illiterate labourer from the Donegal Gaeltacht to shoot the leader of The Invincibles? Who was the mystery woman posing as his wife? And why did both the US President and the French luminary Victor Hugo plead that Patrick O'Donnell not be hanged for his crime?