In 1974, during
the Troubles, four members of the
Provisional Irish Republican Army -the fanatical Doireann and the three men in her squad: Conan, Séamus and Curtis (Doireann's younger brother and the least disciplined of the lot) - carry out a bombing in
Belfast that kills six people, including three children. The four then come to the
Irish coastal town of
Glencolmcille,
County Donegal, to lie low since Doireann had been identified to the
Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) because she had gotten out of the car to try to shoo the children away from the front of the pub that was bombed. In Glencolmcille, Curtis stays with Sinéad, the widowed keeper of the local
pub who is his sister-in-law, and her young daughter Moya, and the rest stay in a ramshackle shack. Finbar Murphy lives a quiet life in Glencolmcille. Apparently, when he returned from the
Second World War, he found that his wife had died, and he fell into an alcohol-fueled depression. A local
crime boss, Robert McQue, rescued him from the bottle and put him to work by using his combat experience as a
contract killer. Posing as a book-seller, he is friendly with the local
Garda officer, Vinnie, and with Finbar's neighbour, Rita. He travels to
Bantry, County Cork, and kidnaps a target in a routine job. The target is a former contract killer, who, while waiting for Finbar to shoot him at his self-dug grave, urges him to make something of the rest of his life. Finbar then ends his relationship with Robert when he collects on the killing, which forces the latter to rely on Kevin, a troubled younger man, for future jobs. Finbar discovers bruises on Sinéad's young daughter Moya, but Moya is too afraid to reveal the culprit to him or to her mother. He surmises that Curtis is sexually abusing her. Finbar goes for advice to Robert about what to do, but Robert warns him that the Garda are unlikely to make an arrest unless Moya comes forward, an idea that Finbar immediately rejects, but if Finbar were to call the Garda on her behalf, that might lead to additional scrutiny of their criminal affairs. Instead, Finbar decides to lure Curtis into his car and drives him to a forested grove, where he secretly buries his victims. While still on the road, Finbar lets Curtis out of the trunk of his car but fumbles when he is loading his shotgun while Curtis flees down the road. When Finbar catches up with the wounded Curtis, a wet shotgun shell misfires, and Curtis pulls a knife. Finbar survives only because Kevin, having been sent by Robert to keep an eye on him, uses his high-powered hunting rifle to shoot Curtis dead from a distance. Finbar and Kevin then bury the body and bond over their dreams for the future, but Finbar finds Kevin's cavalier attitude toward killings distasteful. When Curtis fails to return to the shack in which they are hiding, Doireann gets a tip that the local mob boss (Robert) may have information. She goes to Robert's house and confronts him, but he feigns ignorance until she discovers evidence that he knows more about the death than he admits. She then kills Robert after he discloses Finbar's name, and she forces her companions to help locate Finbar. Finbar and Kevin console Robert's mother, as Doireann ransacks Finbar's house and attacks Rita, who has come out of her house to see what the strangers are up to. Later that day, Finbar and Doireann run into each other at a local Gaelic football match, and Finbar attempts to resolve the situation by observing that they have each killed someone close to the other and hence should call it even. Doireann rejects the offer and insists that Finbar deliver up the killer. Finbar offers to do so in exchange for their departure from Glencolmcille. Doireann insists that they rendezvous at Sinéad's bar that evening. Finbar tries to convince Kevin to follow his dream of moving to
California to write songs by giving Kevin his life savings. Kevin seems to accept the offer and then drives away. At the bar that evening, Doireann instructs her men to cover her, with Conan going inside as a backup with a bomb in a satchel with instructions to set the timer and blow up the crowded bar if things go wrong. Séamus remains in the getaway vehicle and is ready to help his comrades escape. While exiting the pub to have a cigarette, Vinnie recognises Séamus, who is in the car since he had briefly met him earlier in a local shop, where he claimed to be Finbar's nephew. Meanwhile, inside the pub, Finbar and Doireann have a tense conversation at the bar, but Kevin suddenly shows up, tries to distract Doireann and ends up telling her that he is the one who killed her brother. Doireann then shoots him in the gut, which starts a shootout. Vinnie manages to take the bomb out of the bar with the intent of dispatching it further down the street. Séamus exits the car, knocks him out, reclaims the satchel bomb and brings it to the front door of the pub. As Kevin bleeds profusely down on the floor with his back against the wall, he shoots Doireann in the shoulder and saves Finbar once again from Doireann. Just after killing a wounded Conan with Curtis's knife, Finbar shoots Séamus before he can toss the satchel back into the pub. It explodes just outside the front door and kills Séamus. Doireann makes it back to the car but is unable to start it without the keys, which Séamus had. Mortally wounded, Doireann limps across a field to a church, and Finbar follows her with his shotgun, which he had retrieved from the back seat of the terrorists' car since they had stolen it from his house earlier in the day when they ransacked it. After a brief conversation during which Doireann observes that her brother will be all alone, Finbar tells her that he will make sure she joins him (at his burial site). She then dies from her wounds. Finbar buries her next to her brother. Back at his home, Finbar then bids farewell to Rita and leaves Glencolmcille behind. Vinnie discovers that Finbar has gifted him the novel
Crime and Punishment. == Cast ==