In the summer of 1936 the five Mundy sisters encounter problems which threaten to tear them apart forever. The opening of a new knitting factory destroys the livelihoods of Agnes (Brid Brennan) and Rose (Sophie Thompson); travelling salesman Gerry (Rhys Ifans), the father of Christina's (Catherine McCormack) son, announces that he is off to fight the fascists in Spain; and brother Jack (Michael Gambon), a missionary priest who has been away in Africa, returns home a broken, senile man. As the festival of Lughnasa approaches, the tensions between the sisters come to a head. Also stars Meryl Streep and Kathy Burke.