A boy is raised by his mother and her four sisters in 1930s Ireland. However, the simple, ordered lives of these five women are thrown into turmoil by the appearance of their brother, an ailing elderly missionary who has come home to die, while the boy has his first encounter with his father, who is off to fight in the Spanish Civil War. Period drama, based on Brian Friel's stage play, starring Michael Gambon, Meryl Streep and Catherine McCormack.

Five unmarried sisters make the most of their simple existence in rural Ireland in the 1930s.