Mark is a wannabe actor, penniless, clueless, and inept. He cares for a brother who's paraplegic, and he has a girlfriend, Sally, who wants out of the relationship. His idea of life is to go to the occasional audition, dodge his landlord (having spent the rent money Sally gave him), give Sally a hang-dog look, and talk with Pearce, who lives upstairs. Mark's flat is in disrepair: the kitchen window slams shut, bits of plaster fall from the ceiling, a bulb fizzes, and the sitting-room chandelier sways. When an awful accident happens, Mark freezes, which precipitates additional accidents; he finally calls Pearce, perhaps the worst decision possible. Will Mark come to his senses?

18th century justice catches up with a pair of grave robbers. With only a few hours to go before his date with the guillotine, Arthur Blake tells his life story to Father Francis Duffy. Before long, Arthur spills the beans on how he got started in the grim corpse peddling business with seasoned ghoul Willie Grimes.

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, Ria's husband Danny has problems, economic and personal, that may bring more ruin to those close to him. The house on Tara Road comes to stand for the past, for possibilities, and for what can be lost.