In 1947, Mary Deben travels to a remote cottage in Connemara, Ireland to write her 'Spanish novel'.

She recalls her recruitment in 1937 of Tom Lees, a young Irish writer, to be her 'eyes and ears' on their journey to report on the Irish Blueshirts in the Spanish Civil War.

As she was prevented from going to the front, only Tom witnesses action with the calamitous Irish Brigade. Experiencing the horrifying menace of the fascists and the complicity of the Press on the Francoist-Nationalist side, Mary has to escape from Spain leaving Tom to an unknown fate.

Ten years later, in Connemara, Mary remains remorseful of having enlisted Tom. Unwittingly, she becomes involved in the child abuse scandal of the Industrial Schools. Recruiting a young Christian Brother, she gathers evidence of the abuse in a local school and learns of Tom's fate.

A meeting with an extraordinary stranger also has unexpected consequences.