In early 1860s New York, Irish immigrant Amsterdam Vallon is released from prison and returns to the Five Points, seeking revenge against his father's killer, William Cutting, a powerful anti-immigrant gang leader. He knows that revenge can only be attained by infiltrating Cutting's inner circle. Vallon's journey becomes a fight for personal survival and to find a place for the Irish people.

Joseph falls into despair when his nine-year-old son Shea leaves for Australia with his ex Debbie. Suffering the hangover from hell, he walks away from his present life and boards a boat bound for Ireland to confront memories from his childhood.

Jimmy Rabbitte, just a thick-ya out of school, gets a brilliant idea: to put a soul band together in Barrytown, his slum home in north Dublin. First he needs musicians and singers: things slowly start to click when he finds three fine-voiced females virtually in his back yard, a lead singer (Deco) at a wedding, and, responding to his ad, an aging trumpet player, Joey "The Lips" Fagan.

An Irish Catholic family returns to 1930s Limerick after a child's death in America. The unemployed I.R.A. veteran father struggles with poverty, prejudice, and alcoholism as the family endures harsh slum conditions.

Rats is released from prison and needs to make some money; fast. To his dismay, things have changed dramatically during his absence; his mother no longer has time for him and his ex-bandmates alike. He wishes to help donate towards his obese aunty's trip to Lourdes. He struggles to find a job, yet never fails to find himself in a difficult situation.