The marriage of Robert and Elizabeth is collapsing, both concentrating on their jobs (journalist, mother) rather than each other. The film looks at a week in their lives. Robert sleeps with their babysitter, Marianne, while Elizabeth talks with their friends, Juliet and Alex.

Michael Marler, a successful business man in London, is about to make his way to the top. The death of his father brings him – after 37 years – back to his hometown Liverpool, where he is confronted with his lost Irish roots. He finds out that his father died because of a fight with some anglo-saxon teddy boys. It becomes "a matter of honour" for him, to take his revenge without involving the British police