Life is hard in 1845 Ireland for potato farmers like the Boyd family and their daughter, Bridget, who longs for something more than hunger and poverty.
Daniel O'Callaghan, a neighboring farmer, has loved Bridget Boyd for years but knows he will have to do something drastic to change his lot in life if she is ever going to see him as a serious suitor. Just as he begins to believe he has made some headway with her, his best-laid plans fall apart as the potato famine wreaks havoc on Ireland, changing all their fates in ways they could never have predicted.