The national mood in Ireland is downtrodden, and although Ben wants no part of the insurrection along the northern border, he unknowingly falls in with an IRA sympathizer. Yet all he can think about is finding his former wife and true love, actress Venetia Kelly.

In the summer of 1943, as World War II rages on, Ben MacCarthy is haunted by the disappearance of his wife, the actress Venetia Kelly. Searching for purpose by collecting stories for the Irish Folklore Commission, he travels to a remote seaside cottage to profile the enigmatic Miss Kate Begley, the Matchmaker of Kenmare. 

January 1932: Ben MacCarthy and his father watch a vagabond variety revue making a stop in the Irish countryside. After two hours, Ben’s father, mesmerized by Venetia Kelly, the troupe’s magnetic headliner, makes a fateful decision: to abandon his family and set off on the road with Miss Kelly and her caravan.

In the winter of 1951, a storytellerarrives at the home of nine-year-old Ronan O'Mara in the Irish countryside and stays for three wonderful evenings. These nights change young Ronan forever, setting him on a years-long pursuit of the elusive, itinerant storyteller and the glorious tales that are no less than the saga of his tenacious and extraordinary isle.