Marius O'Dowd is an Irish doctor who is often drunk. His daughter-in-law Moira dies during a serious operation which O'Dowd is performing. Although O'Dowd is not to blame, his son Stephen suspects that Moira died due to O'Dowd operating while under the influence of alcohol, and accuses him of criminal neglect.

Two convicts escape prison and get a job in a bakery. Their attempts to go straight are endangered by a third escaped convict.