In a small Irish village, strong-willed Tara shocks the townspeople by having a baby out of wedlock and refusing to name the father. During Sunday mass she goes into labour giving birth to a baby boy. The town's constable, Brendan Hegarty, and Mick, a local landowner, vie for Tara's hand in marriage, but she refuses them both. When Tara instead falls for Tom Casey, an actor in a lewd wandering theater troupe called the Playboys, Hegarty plots to keep Tara and Tom apart.