Kate Brady, Rita Tushingham, is a young woman fresh out of convent school who leaves the family rural home to start a new life in Dublin. She takes a job in a grocery shop and shares a room with her vivacious friend and schoolmate, Baba Brennan, Lynn Redgrave. The two women enjoy the city’s nightlife, dancing at clubs and dating, with Baba’s down-to-earth charm contrasting Kate’s more reserved and romantic temperament.
When a countryside outing with one of Baba’s boyfriends brings them into contact with Eugene Gaillard, a sophisticated middle-aged author Peter Finch, Kate feels a spark. A chance meeting later in a Dublin bookshop rekindles the connection, and a friendship blossoms into something deeper, despite their age gap. The couple soon experiences love and closeness, even sharing a bed, yet Kate struggles to have sex.
The situation intensifies when Kate learns that Eugene is married, though separated from his wife who has gone to the United States to pursue a divorce. This revelation shakes Kate’s trust and complicates their bond, especially as her father discovers the affair and, with his friends, travels to Dublin to pull Kate back to the countryside. Kate slips away on the first morning, only to be intercepted by a cowhand. A later confrontation finds her being lectured by a priest, prompting another impulsive escape.
Josie Hannigan, the housekeeper and a no-nonsense guardian of the house, intervenes decisively, firing a shotgun at the ceiling and threatening the intruders with a second barrel, which forces them to retreat. After this tense moment, Kate and Eugene manage to consummate their relationship, and Eugene buys her a ring, which Kate treats as a symbol of a future she longs to share with him. She begins to adopt a more sophisticated look, wearing makeup and her hair up, and she tells a stranger, I got married today.
They live together for a time in a bubble of happiness, but the glow fades as reality seeps in. Kate’s Catholic faith clashes with Eugene’s secular views, and his friends do not take Kate seriously. He continues to correspond with his estranged wife, who remains a pull on him, even as Kate’s hopes grow. When his wife sends a plane ticket, Kate gives Eugene an ultimatum, but he does not react in the way she hopes, signaling trouble ahead.
Eventually Kate leaves Eugene and returns to Baba, who is preparing to move to London. Kate invites Baba to take her with her, hoping Eugene will follow. He does not appear; instead, he sends a message through Baba, suggesting that their breakup may be for the best and that he wishes he had been younger or she had been more mature. The film closes with Kate narrating her own growth: she has changed, she starts night school, and she meets different people, different men, as she continues her life beyond the broken relationship.
