Philip is a misfit at his new school. When he is bullied, his mother decides to sort out things between him and his schoolmates, because his father unable to do so, as he is currently doing time in prison.

An Irish Catholic family returns to 1930s Limerick after a child's death in America. The unemployed I.R.A. veteran father struggles with poverty, prejudice, and alcoholism as the family endures harsh slum conditions.