I don't always remember that in the midst of the Great War, the Irish republicans were keen to capitalise on British distractions elsewhere and use this moment to further their cause. Sadly for them, though, they hadn't the weaponry neccessary and getting it to the remote west coast of Ireland was quite a task. In a small village, pub landlord "Ryan" (Leo McKern) is one such man, dedicated to the freedom of his nation but also sensible enough not to pick fights with the army. His daughter, the school teacher "Rosy" (Sarah Miles) has just got married to "Shaughnessy" (Robert Mitchum) and though he's a decent enough cove she's less than impressed by marriage and so proves fairly susceptible to the charms of the newly arrived "Major Doryan" (Christopher Jones) who has been posted here to this backwater as he is clearly suffering from some sort of shell shock. Naturally, they have to keep their burgeoning relationship under wraps, but in such a tiny community and with the omnipresent "Michael" (John Mills) always appearing in the wrong place at the wrong time the likelihood of the gossips finding out, or even just maliciously speculating, has got to be high. Meantime, local insurgent "Tim" (Barry Foster) is awaiting an arms delivery which, despite a ferocious storm, the entire community manage to land - only for the soldiers to be waiting on the road to seize it and apprehend him.…

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