Based on the book Talking to the Dead, by Pat Sheeran and Nina Witoszek, this film examines the role of death, the tradition of the funeral in Irish life and its continuing legacy today. Exploring the wake, the banshee and the now extinct art of caoining (keening), interviewees include Mary Holland, Eoghan Harris, Pat Sheeran, Christy Kenneally, Declan Kiberd and Patricia Lysaght.