When ruthless Michael McCarthy evicts the Cronins, tenants in the estate that isto become his son's, old Mag Cronin calls down the power of darkness on Michael and his descendants. At first the curse is laughed off but in the next generation the McCarthys suffer a terrible toll of lives lost and blighted. Onlyhandsome young Michael, his father's pride and joy, seems to lead a charmed life, prospering as a barrister in Dublin with his wife and daughters. Then slowly the workings of the curse are felt in a further generation. Molly, his first and favourite daughter, follows her foolishly trusting heart and marries a brutal soldier. Beautiful and gifted Francoise turns to a harsh, unrewarding career. Nell, born to be a wife and mother, loses her chance of happiness in thecruellest way possible. When a fourth child, Rory, is born unexpectedly, it is his fate to carry the curse into another generation - or to break it.