Donovan & Burdock

Summer 1961. An influx of new men into a small village inspires a teenage 'Challenge', the winner to be the girl who got off with the greatest number of them before September. But the acquisition of experience goes hand in hand with tragedy and heartbreak, not only for Bridie Burdock, whose passion for twenty-one year old Irish labourer Sean Donovan is more than reciprocated but in a relationship that cannot continue. Five years later, Sean's love for Bridie overcomes his need for a wife mature enough to cope with the necessity of motherhood and participation in the family business, in conjunction with his four brothers, one of whom wants Bridie for himself. After three years and three miscarriages Bridie is pregnant, fulfilling Sean s desire for a family, but their marriage comes under threat from several directions, none of them expected, necessitating the dealing with of her own unanticipated desires and the resolving of several moral dilemmas occasioned by the behaviour of her in-laws.