In a small Irish town in the 1960s, Francis Brady (EAMONN OWENS) and his best friend Joe (ALAN BOYLE) play the usual childhood fantasy games of cowboys and adventurers. But outside of their children’s play, real life is far less appealing for Francie. His father (STEPHEN REA) is the town drunk and his mother (AISLING O’SULLIVAN) is drifting into madness — and a nosy, malicious neighbor, Mrs. Nugent (FIONA SHAW), torments Francie with his family’s troubles every chance she gets.

As Francie’s family falls apart, the boy retreats into the fragmented comic-book world of his solitary dreams. Shunned and scorned by the people of the town and ultimately estranged from Joe, his only friend, Francie’s frustration at the cruelty of the world finally explodes with shocking and violent consequences.