It is New Zealand 1959. Teen swimmer Alex Archer has to battle set backs, intense rivalry and personal tragedy in her bid to win selection for the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome.

An orphan weds an older man in circa-1900 New Zealand, then finds out he's a miser who spies on her.

In Dublin, a working class family has been unsuccessful in convincing their son to get a real job: the son prefers his job of scooping up horse's dung and selling it for flower gardens. An American exchange student almost runs him over and gets to know him. The dung man has ignored warnings from his family and suddenly the horses have been banned from Dublin. His new love is leaving for America and he must find a way to cope with the new reality.