Maureen Folan, a 40-year-old spinster, takes care of her 70 year-old selfish and manipulative mother, Mag. While her sisters have escaped into marriage and family life, Maureen, with a history of mental illness, is trapped in a dysfunctional relationship with her mother. In the course of the play, the Folan cottage is visited by the Dooley brothers. Pato is a middle-aged construction worker fed up with having to work in England and disappointed by the limitations and loneliness of his life. He is accompanied by his much younger brother, a non-threatening "bad boy", Ray. The plot is full of deceptions, secrets and betrayals interspersed with twists which keep surprising the audience.