After Michael McDuffy, a retired professor from Trinity College Dublin, now living in the village of Sneem in County Kerry, Ireland, begins showing signs associated with Alzheimer's Disease, he is referred to mental health professionals for help. Brendan Sullivan, a young clinical psychology student from University College Cork, is assigned to be of assistance to the man and a friendship develops. When Dr. McDuffy becomes aware of the diagnosis, he ponders his plight. Should he simply accept his fate, which will, without any doubt whatsoever, involve a predictably slow degradation of his body and mind? Or should he choose, instead, a different course of action, one which is prohibited by both church and state?