In Mountfern, life meanders as slowly as the river running through it. The pace has hardly changed since the great house burned down in the Troubles and its shell became an ivy-clad playground for the local children. But when Patrick O'Neil arrives from the States with grand plans to turn the ruins of Fernscourt into Ireland's finest hotel, ripples begin to appear on the surface calm of this backwater. Brimming with speculation about the wealthy, charming American, the little community wonders how he will affect their lives.