Seumas McKinnon has just retired from an advertising job in Melbourne. He would be free to leave Australia, as a widower with no attachments-except for his son, Alasdair, a successful lawyer. Although they're grown men, Seumas and Alasdair share a strong dependency that keeps Seumas stuck in a rut. He can't meet anyone with Alasdair constantly around; even though he loves his son, he decides it's time for some time apart.
Seumas heads to the Isle of Skye in Scot-land. He hopes to embrace his familial roots and learn some Gaelic along the way. The separation is initially hard on both of them, but soon, Seumas meets Morag, a lovely, charming woman whom he finds immediately attractive. They strike up a relationship, even though they both know Seumas plans to return to Australia. Back home, Alasdair meets someone, too-Annie O'Hare, a physiotherapist recently returned from Hong Kong. Initially she refuses to take him seriously.
Apart, father and son seem to thrive. Eventually, Seumas returns to Melbourne, happy to feel some emotional distance from his clingy son. Then a tragic and nearly fatal accident occurs that bonds the McKinnon boys more than ever before. Perhaps Seumas's trip to Scotland was all in vain, or per-haps his absence gave him a chance to see the true importance of love and family.