It's July, 1969, and the O'Mahonys are caught up in the excitement of the moon landing and a world seeming to stand on a new threshold. All is as normal as it can be in an Irish family except for the arrival from London of Tamara (11) - minus her voice. She is the daughter of estranged Uncle Jack, whose English wife has just died. Boisterous Sally (12) idolises her brother, Kieran (18), a champion hurler with a passion for horses. She resents the attention paid to silent book-loving Tamara. Kieran is Tamara's anchor in the alien world of the Cork farm with its cast of animal characters. The trio begin to enjoy summertime roaming the idyllic river valley but tension mounts.