Kenny's work as a nurse in a psychiatric hospital isn't just a job, it's a vocation. His special group of patients are his friends - his only friends. When a strange young man is introduced to the group, he threatens the love, discipline and respect that have been the very basis of Kenny's authority, and all that surrounds the institution is scant protection from the madness of the world beyond.

Maeve returns home to Belfast after a long absence. Her arrival in the city stimulates a series of memories of childhood and adolescence both in herself and other people.