At the height of World War I, Douglas Terrell, an Anglo-Irish aristocrat, leaves Ireland and his family to fight in the English Army against the Germans. Pamela, his beautiful English wife, driven by her own fierce loyalty, defies her people as well as the Crown itself while Jane, his sister, meets a revolutionary who is determined to fight for Irish independence—even if it means siding with the Germans against the English.

The knotted alliances and conflicting loyalties of this Anglo-Irish family meet their ultimate test during the Easter Rebellion of 1916 and demonstrate how trying to act honorably can be fraught with heartbreak and disappointment—yet offers the only way to live.