In 1920s Ireland young doctor Damien O'Donovan prepares to depart for a new job in a London hospital. As he says his goodbyes at a friend's farm, British Black and Tans arrive, and a young man is killed. Damien joins his brother Teddy in the Irish Republican Army, but political events are soon set in motion that tear the brothers apart.

A young medical student visits the Blasket Islands, off the coast of Ireland, during the holidays and becomes charmed with the place and its people. He falls in love with a local girl, who is betrothed to a local man. The two men meet and become fast friends, and the student realizes the hopelessness in his love of the girl of his friend. He leaves but, after his graduation from Trinity College, he returns to cast his lot with these simple fishermen