Bull McCabe, Richard Harris is an Irish farmer whose pride in a field he and his family have tilled for generations runs deeper than a simple plot of land. One day he disposes of a dead donkey by dumping it in a lake, an act that sets off a chain of blame and grief. It soon emerges that his son, Tadhg, killed the donkey after discovering it had broken into the family’s long-cared-for field. The owner of the donkey accuses Bull McCabe of the death and demands “blood money,” intensifying a feud that already tugs at the heart of the family’s history.
That field—hollowed by generations of work, struggle, and memory—has become the core of Bull McCabe’s existence. The family has cultivated it, turning barren ground into something productive and enduring. The current owner of the field is a widow who, around the tenth anniversary of her husband’s death, decides to sell. Instead of selling directly to McCabe, she opts for a public auction, a decision that unsettles him because it could strip away the land he has fought to keep. Unknown to Bull, Tadhg has been harassing the widow for years, feeding her suspicion that McCabe himself is orchestrating the trouble in order to force a sale. Her growing certainty pushes her toward a sale at auction, and the tension in the village builds around the fate of this cherished field.
When news of the auction breaks, McCabe goes to the village pub and proclaims that no one would dare bid against him for “his” field. The crowd watches as the bidding begins, and a strong sense of inevitability settles over the room. A determined Peter, Tom Berenger, an American with roots in the area, has arrived with plans to build a hydro-electric plant and to quarry stone in the region. His project hinges on obtaining the field, and he relentlessly presses his advantage, driving the price up through successive bids. McCabe is drawn into a tense duel of wills with Peter, and the two men push the price higher and higher. Peter’s persistence forces the widow to set a reserve price of 100 pounds, a threshold McCabe cannot cross without depleting his entire livelihood.
The auction scene reveals the depth of McCabe’s attachment to the land. He shares his personal history at the rectory, confessing why the field matters so much—the memory of his mother dying while saving hay and the long, emotional labor his family invested in cultivating the land. This revelation deepens the viewer’s understanding of why McCabe cannot abandon the field, even as the economic reality tightens around him. The parish priest, who has supported him up to this point, sees the emotional weight of the land and the pain that accompanies the battle.
As the second auction approaches, Peter refuses to back down. In a last, desperate attempt, McCabe and Tadhg confront Peter at a waterfall that Peter has purchased just the night before the second auction. When Tadhg cannot best Peter in a fight, McCabe intervenes in a blazing, righteous rage and defeats them both. Peter is killed, and in the moment of violence, McCabe experiences a devastating mental break, confusing Peter with his dead son, Seamie. Grief-stricken and unstable, McCabe’s grip on reality slips away.
Meanwhile, Tadhg—Turkish traveler connections in tow—flees with the Traveller woman he has grown fond of, telling her that he has killed Peter and vowing to run away with her. In the aftermath of the confrontation, Bird O'Donnell, John Hurt, who has been faithful to McCabe in some capacity, places a bid on his behalf and secures the field for 101 pounds at the second auction, with the plan to keep it within the family’s reach despite the tragedy.
A Traveller boy spots the dead donkey’s body floating in the lake, and a crane is brought in to retrieve it. As the crane pulls up the donkey, it also reveals the body of Peter, a grim reminder of the violence that has surrounded the land. At nearly the same moment, Tadhg returns home to tell his father that he is leaving with the Traveller and that he never wanted the field after all. The parish priest arrives to confront McCabe about the discovery of Peter’s corpse, and the emotional toll of the day pushes McCabe beyond reason. With the loss of his son weighed heavily on him, and with Peter’s body recovered, McCabe’s sanity finally shatters. He leads his cattle toward the sea cliffs, a symbolic last stand against the world that has taken everything from him.
Bird O'Donnell informs Tadhg that his father has fallen into a dangerous madness. Tadhg hurries to intervene, but the herd drives him over the cliff, killing him. In the final, devastating moments, McCabe—now fully consumed by grief and fury—tries to push back the waves to save his dead son, while his wife and the Traveller mourn nearby. The film closes on a landscape of loss, where the field remains the silent trophy of a battle between pride, heritage, and the harsh demands of change.
The story unfolds with a quiet, unflinching realism, tracing how a man’s unyielding connection to land can drive him to ruin, how a community negotiates change, and how memory and tragedy entangle themselves with every bid, every quarrel, and every step toward the edge.
