Set in 1981 in Northern Ireland, this film personalizes the political situation, exporing how political decisions and beliefs can ripple throughout a community and effect everyone. Kathleen Quigley is shocked when her son Gerard is arrested for IRA involvement as she herself has always borne a strong antagonism to violence. As she comes to terms with her sons' imprisonment she befriends Annie. Annie, unlike Kathleen, has strong IRA convictions and does not suffer the same trauma as Kathleen, who is trying to understand her son and his actions.
Coinciding with the time of their arrest, Margaret Tharcher, the English Prime Minister begins her campaign to crush the IRA. Her solution is a form of Criminalization, Demoralization and Isolation. Members of the IRA are to be treated as criminals rather than soldiers. In protest on March 1, 1981, Bobby Sands, leader of the H-block protests goes on hunger strike. He lays out several demands to the British Government, all of which are ignored. As the hunger strike gains more notoriety, Sands stands for election. Both Kathleen and Annie campaign relentlessly as this is seen as a way of preventing further men going on hunger strike.