Catherine Meehan was born into a respectable working-class Roman Catholic family in Ballyfergus on the coast of Antrim. She is determined to flee the poverty, bigotry and antagonism that shaped her early years... Jayne Alexander is infused with the privileges that go with being part of a well-to-do Protestant family. Despite her self-assurance, she has a need for love and yearns for approval... From 1959 to 1984, the lives of the Meehan and Alexander families become inextricably linked, in moments of great passion and hatred, as deeply held loyalties are threatened.