An Irish hermit and his son are the central characters of this Irish family drama set in 1952. They dwell in County Cavan where the father ekes out a living as a fisherman. He resists all attempts at modernization such as electricity and other conveniences. Despite his stubbornness, the brooding Doyle realizes that there is no future here for his son, Eamon, whose mother died when he was quite young. He wants to send the young man to the US, but Doyle keeps hearing about an exotic land, "Korea," where the US government is sending all its young men, regardless of their national origins, to fight and to die. That's what happened to the son of Ben Moran, Doyle's nemesis. When the body of young Moran arrives, the county goes into a tizzy, but when Doyle hears some of the impoverished elders talking about the large of compensation money the US government sent, he begins thinking. Doyle suddenly goes out and buys Eamon a ticket for the US, leaving the son, who has fallen in love with Moran's daughter, to ponder the implications. In the end, a major confrontation between father and soon occurs.