Francie (Eamonn Owens) has a disastrous childhood and retreats into television and movies to escape the pain. His mother (Aisling O'Sullivan) is suicidal, and his alcoholic father (Stephen Rea) has little to do with him. Francie's tendency to project violent fantasies onto reality lands him in reform school, where he is sexually abused. Wildly looking to hold someone responsible for all the trauma visited on him, Francie targets his neighbor, Mrs. Nugent (Fiona Shaw).