Peter Clifford, a young Catholic priest from Manchester, is transferred to the village of Ballykissangel, Ireland, and is taken by the dry-humored publican Assumpta Fitzgerald who has almost the exact opposite of his good nature and dislikes the organized 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 straight-arrow garda 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. In the third season Peter and Assumpta realize their love for each other and leave BallyK, so Niamh takes over the pub and former monk Father Aidan O'Connell becomes the local curate, and is followed by his sister Orla and a returning local, Sean Dillon, and his daughter Emma. When the Egans move to Dublin then London in the fifth season, Fitzgerald's pub is rented to Oonagh Dooley and her notorious husband Paul. Fr. Aidan moves on in the sixth season, and is replaced by an Australian priest, Vincent Sheahan.