Set mainly in the first half of the twentieth century in the years following the Irish Easter Rising, it tells the story of legendary Irish revolutionary Conor Larkin, his brother Liam and Liam's sons Rory and Dary.
After emigrating from Ireland to New Zealand, Liam establishes his own dynasty and sets to repeat the same cycle of conflict with his own sons as his father, Tomas.
Rory becomes a World War I war hero in the Gallipoli campaign. Rory's brother Dary takes Catholic clerical vows, only to have a powerful love drive him to question both celibacy and his calling.