Jack Flynn, strong and aggressive, but slowly dying of tuberculosis on his farm in Tipperary in the Republic of Ireland, decides to acquire - buy - a young wife who can bear him sons to inherit his family's land. His choice, Caitlin Spillane, is less than half his age, attractive and intelligent, and resents bitterly the obedience that is forced upon her. When Donal Kelly, a young firebrand and IRA activist, arrives in the village, he is determined to liberate Caitlin from her unloved husband - by any means. A novel set against the struggle for the heart of Ireland in the Second World War.