As the rebels of the 1916 Easter Rising surrender, Michael Collins, Harry Boland and Eamonn De Valera are amongst them. De Valera is imprisoned but Collins and Boland, believed to be relatively minor figures within the Irish Volunteers are released after a few months.
With De Valera in prison, Collins becomes the de facto military leader of the IRA whilst also campaigning for the political party Sinn Fein. He decides that the organisation will henceforth adopt a strategy of using guerrilla tactics in fighting the British. At the same time, he and Harry Boland compete for the favours of Kitty Kiernan.