Arracht

Colmán Sharkey lives with his wife and infant son on the Atlantic coast of Connemara. He subsists by fishing with his brother Seán and tending potatoes on the family farm. The precarious balance of work and hunger sets the stage for the challenges to come as famine looms on the horizon.

Patsy Kelly, recently deserted from the Royal Navy under suspicious circumstances, is hired as a farmhand and fisherman. Colmán persuades him to join the household, hoping the skilled sailor will help them endure the scarcity. A tense alliance forms as trust and pressure begin to collide.

A potato blight spreads across the Midlands and reaches Connemara, with potato fields withering to ruin. The famine tightens its grip, driving rents higher as landlords demand payment from starving tenants. The community braces for further hardship as hunger tightens its hold.

The landlord sends two armed men to collect rent despite the famine. Patsy disarms one of the men, but Colmán insists on meeting the landlord to plead against the rent increase. The encounter marks the first explicit collision between the men’s survivalist aims and the landlord’s authority.

At the estate, Colmán tries to persuade the landlord not to raise rents. Patsy murders the two agents and the landlord's daughter; Colmán is shocked by the carnage. Patsy then kills the landlord, and Seán is fatally stabbed in the ensuing confrontation, deepening the brothers' feud.

Enraged by the massacres and the betrayal, Colmán brutally beats Patsy and leaves him for dead. The brothers’ alliance collapses as violence erupts and the family is torn apart. The famine and fear continue to pressure every choice they make.

Two years pass, and Colmán loses his wife and infant son to the famine’s harsh toll. He seeks refuge in a cave by the shore, haunted by visions of the family he has lost. He attempts suicide by drowning, but the sea refuses to release him, leaving him tortured and alive.

Colmán discovers a sick young girl, Kitty, living in what used to be his cottage. He tends her ailments and realizes she witnessed Patsy’s murderous spree. As Kitty recovers, a cautious bond forms between healer and survivor.

Desperation among villagers for food leads to violent confrontation, with locals stabbing Colmán in the cottage as he tries to care for Kitty. He survives the assault and continues to mentor the girl in basic skills like rowing and fishing. The incident cements Colmán’s isolation and responsibility.

Time passes and Colmán and Kitty deepen their bond as they teach each other essential survival skills. Kitty worries about starving people, but Colmán explains that their own survival requires access to the sea and that winter will complicate fishing. They begin to prepare for the harsher months ahead.

Kitty befriends a local girl and her mother, and Colmán quietly persuades them to adopt Kitty and take her to the mainland for safety. The plan hints at a future beyond the sea-driven life they’ve built. Kitty’s sense of belonging shifts as she looks toward a new home.

Patsy, having survived Colmán’s earlier assault, has framed him for the landlord’s murder. He partners with a British agent and a police constable to track down Colmán to his old cottage. They seize Kitty as bait while the agent arrests Colmán.

During the confrontation, Colmán strikes back and kills the agent, then subdues the constable to seize his gun. He confronts Patsy, who threatens Kitty, turning the moment into a deadly showdown.

Kitty defends herself by stabbing Patsy in the leg with a knife Colmán had given her, and Colmán then strangles Patsy to death. Kitty experiences flashbacks to the murders she witnessed, but she and Colmán finally embrace, choosing survival and each other as the tragedy closes.