Following the death of his mother, 18-year-old Danny is lost and bereft. Danny runs away from his father, a stern man who loves his son but cannot express his feelings, and teams up with Prunty, a wild local character. Prunty is Ireland: outrageous, cunning, daring and loyal. The run of the country, its glory and wildness, is theirs. Danny falls passionately in love with Annagh Lee, a young girl living north of the border, and she with him, but reality intrudes on their idyllic existence when she becomes pregnant. Annagh's miscarriage and Prunty's accidental death devastates Danny but he survives and learns to take charge of his life, allowing him to reconcile with his father before leaving the village for Dublin and University.