Paul Kelly has escaped Rathbawn, his home town in Ireland, and is attempting to begin a new life managing a pub in Brixton. But, overwhelmed by his wife's death and the prospect of bringing up his daughter alone, his days have become a constant alcoholic binge. Then, through a drunken haze, he learns that his brother has been murdered and he must return to Ireland to confront his past and Rathbawn's dangerous ideas of revenge.
But all he is waiting for is the hour when the pubs open and he can get his healer . . .
