At the beginning of 1992, the world is gripped by an economic recession. Donal Cassidy is feeling the pinch at the London club where he works, and is in the midst of planning a truly memorable Valentine's Day to try and drum up business. He's distracted from his goal when his mother's next-door neighbor dies unexpectedly, and her handsome nephew Diarmit Tierney moves in.
Diarmit is an Irish Catholic, which is less a problem for Donal than it is for his Protestant mother, who lost her husband to an IRA bomb. Donal's convinced he and Diarmit can make their relationship work, until Diarmit reveals a secret which makes Donal rethink everything.