A simple boy from the working-class neighborhood of Faithful Place, Frank Mackey, and his beloved Rosie Daly decide to run away from home together. But Rosie does not come to the meeting place at the appointed time... Years pass, Frank makes an excellent career in the police, but all these years he continues to be tormented by the question: why then, in his youth, did the girl he loved betray him? The terrible truth is revealed unexpectedly. And from that day on, fate rains down blows on Frank one after another. Monstrous events twist into an unimaginable knot, dragging family, friends and even Frank’s beloved daughter into it. And at some point he faces a choice: what is more important to him - the duty of a policeman or the duty of a man?