Debutante Susan Connelly is desperate to escape the Country Club life her parents have planned for her. She travels to Belfast, home of her college roommate and one of the most dangerous cities in the world in the 1980's. Tread Softly is the story of a young woman whose romanticized ideas about rebellion are shattered in the face of Northern Ireland's Troubles. Susan fails to understand the implications of her lover's involvement in the Irish Republican Army until he comes to her in the middle of the night injured and hiding from the British authorities. The decisions she makes that night propel her into his world of danger and distrust where true friendships can mean the difference between life and death. As the threats against her small circle of friends increase she is forced to face the limits of her own morality and her commitment to a Cause that is still not her own. Like Margaret Mitchell's Scarlett O'Hara, Susan Connelly faces challenges with a rebellious spirit, Southern charm and Irish tenacity.