Desmond Doyle is devastated when his wife abandons their family on the day after Christmas. His unemployment and the fact that there is no woman in the house to care for the children, Evelyn, Dermot and Maurice, make it clear to the authorities that his is an untenable situation. The Catholic Church and the Irish courts decide to put the Doyle children into Church-run orphanages. Although a sympathetic judge assures Desmond that when his financial situation reverses, he will be able to get his children back; money is hard to come by. During that time, Evelyn and her brothers suffer the abuses of living in orphanages while Desmond struggles to secure finances. Now he must battle the courts to get his children back.

Evelyn's mother is said to have gone to Australia with her lover, but in reality, she went to England and ended up raising another family there. The real Evelyn eventually saw her mother on more than one occasion, but they never reconciled.

Nick Barron:
The law and justice are two entirely different matters.

Continuity: When the man from SPCC was speaking with Doyle, a woman behind Doyle hung the same pair of pants on the line twice.

(Traditional)
Performed by The Cór Na Nog Rté Choir