Since the narrative is developed chronologically and involves the Sheridans and the Winslows, the characters are presented by generations and in parallel dynasties. Conn Sheridan and Hadley Winslow begin the connection of the two families with a fleeting romance in Ireland during the Troubles of the 1920s. Conn is an Irish patriot, a member of the Irish Republican Army, who is wounded in an attack on a rural police station. He is nursed back to health by Hadley Winslow, the wife of an American banker living in Dublin because her husband is there on business. Conn and Hadley have a brief, passionate affair and Conn wants them to run away together, but Hadley will not give up the comfort and social position her wealthy husband provides her. Conn flees Ireland for Boston when the British police close in on him.

Hadley and her husband also return to Boston...