On the eve of the Great War… Nora McMahon is a young Irish girl raised by her grandfather on a small farm in County Clare. Her parents were executed after a failed rebellion and she inherits their dreams of a free Ireland. She witnesses the political change overtaking Ireland and struggles to prove her worth in the nascent Irish republican world. Edward Eldridge is a wealthy young captain in the British Army eager to debate the erupting war and the irksome "Irish Question" from the comfort of London mansions. He is frustrated with his father's reluctance to support a call to arms and welcomes the war and a chance to break free from the restrictions of privileged life. The mounting crises across Europe shape Nora and Edward's lives and set their worlds on a collision course. As they both pursue their own notions of freedom, they are unable to imagine the worlds they will help to create.