Ireland 1981. Nine-year-old Cáit counters the adversities of a life in poverty on the countryside with a quiet retreat into her own world: She is a sensitive observer of the beauty of the small things around her. When she is sent from her overwhelmed, often emotionally cold extended family to an older, childless couple during the holidays, she experiences deep affection, perhaps for the first time ever.
It is implied that a major character is an alcoholic (he is seen drinking a pint during the day and makes a joke about having a "liquid lunch"). He is shown smoking cigarettes in almost every scene he appears in and regularly gambles on horses.