After a boyhood of tragedy and want, life begins to look brighter for Seán O’Brien as he enters manhood. As a talented musician, the doors of the rich are thrown open to him, and his initial success allows him to dare dream of saving his family from grinding poverty. In a convulsion of history, however, his dream is to be challenged as the potato crop in Ireland succumbs to disease and hundreds of thousands face a lingering death by starvation.