Peter Clifford is a young Catholic priest from Manchester. He is transferred to the village of Ballykissangel, Ireland, and is is taken by the dry-humored publican Assumpta Fitzgerald who has almost the exact opposite of his good nature and dislikes the organised church. He has to deal with occasional battles against his hateful superior, Father MacAnally, and the day-to-day problems of the people: Brian Quigley, whose constant search for money sometimes leads him to immorality, his daughter Niamh and her lover Ambrose Egan, uptight and suspicious shopkeeper Kathleen Hendley, gruff vet Siobhan Mehigan, cheery auto-man Padraig O'Kelly, comical schoolteacher Brendan Kearney, and elderly farmer Eamon Byrne.