10-year-old Fiona is sent to live with her grandparents in a small fishing village in Donegal, Ireland. She soon learns the local legend that an ancestor of hers married a Selkie – a seal who can turn into a human. Years earlier, her baby brother was washed out to sea and never seen again, so when Fiona spies a naked little boy on the abandoned Isle of Roan Inish, she is compelled to investigate.
Two grieving women – Ria, a Dublin mom whose husband discloses he’s in love with a woman already pregnant, and Marilyn, a Connecticut Yankee who’s son has died – swap houses for a couple months. Marilyn finds solace in Ria’s garden and becomes friends with Colm, a local with a restaurant and his own demons. Ria gets a job cooking, has a date or two, and gradually comes out of her shell. Meanwhile
In Dublin, a working class family has been unsuccessful in convincing their son to get a real job: the son prefers his job of scooping up horse’s dung and selling it for flower gardens. An American exchange student almost runs him over and gets to know him. The dung man has ignored warnings from his family and suddenly the horses have been banned from Dublin. His new love is leaving for America and he must ..