Kirsty Macleod dreams of a better life away from the isolation that suffocates her in a small village on an island in the Outer Scottish Hebrides. Suppressing these aspirations, she sees her lover Murdo conscripted for service in the First World War, soon to set off and fight alongside the other young men from the village. A road dance is held in their honour the evening before they depart, and it’s on this fateful evening that Kirsty’s life takes a dramatic and tragic turn.