The end of the school year is approaching, and siblings Paddy and Liz McLaughlin, Christy Meehan, Kevin Thompson and their friends will soon have to decide what they're going to do with the rest of their lives. But it's hard to focus on when there's the allure of their favourite hangout place, the dingy 'Cave', where they go to drink, flirt and listen to Dexys and Joy Division. Through a fog of marijuana, beer and budding romance, the future is distant and unreal. But this is Derry in 1981, and they can't ignore the turmoil of the outside world. When a friend is killed, Christy and Paddy, stunned out of their stupor, take matters into their own hands. Some choices are irreversible, and choosing to fight will take hold of their lives in ways they never imagined.