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Year of production : 2014

Director(s) : Garret DALY, Martina MCGLYNN
Cast : Tara BREATHNACH, Gerard MCCARTHY, Muireann BIRD, Brian FORTUNE

Producer(s) : Garret DALY (MIXED BAG MEDIA LTD.)

Ireland 1920. The Irish War of Independence is at its height and the British government has called in their savage ‘Black & Tan’ reservists to confront the growing guerilla threat from the rebel Irish Republican Army.

Amidst the conflict two Protestant Anglo-Irish sisters, May and Tilly Collingwood tend to their late father’s estate, managing the land as best they can with the help of two Catholic labourers: trusty Tom Nolan (Brian Fortune) and his roguish son Jackie (Elliot Moriarty). Vigilant elder sister May (Tara Breathnach) regards her pretty younger sister Tilly’s (Muireann Bird) friendship with Jackie with distrust, as she has reason to believe he has joined the local chapter of the IRA.

Following a deadly IRA ambush May discovers a badly wounded Black and Tan officer, Capt. Shearing (Gerard McCarthy) hiding in her yard. As a nurse during the Great War, May instinctively cares for the young soldier and enlists Tilly’s help to bring him into the house.

This one act of compassion places May and Tilly in an impossible and dangerous situation. If it were discovered they were hiding a British officer under their roof, either the IRA would take reprisals or the British would arrest them. Over the following weeks May and Tilly carefully go about their daily lives taking turns at sitting by the officer’s bedside and trying not to attract suspicion with Jackie on the estate nor draw attention to the additional provisions and medicines they need from town.


Capt. Shearing eventually regains consciousness and Tilly takes more of a role in his nursing, leaving May to cunningly fend off prying eyes and the Black And Tan patrols searching for their missing officer. But when Shearing attempts to return to his unit, May prevents him from doing so as this would certainly lead to severe reprisals for Tilly and herself.
During their prolonged confinement, Shearing and Tilly fall in love and eventually hatch a secret plan to elope to America. May is infuriated when she discovers this; not only because of her sister’s naivety but more pointedly she has subdued her own passions for the handsome soldier.

As the Black & Tans close in and the IRA grow suspicious, May is forced to make a drastic decision to stop Tilly’s plan and save her sister and herself from ruin or even death; but even now, she may be too late.