During the Troubles, Maeve returns to Belfast after a long absence in London. She stays in her family home with her sister Roisín and her parents. She also meets up with her ex-boyfriend Liam. Her arrival in the city stimulates a series of memories of childhood both in herself and other people.

Recalibrating patriarchal narratives through a female lens, Pat Murphy marries melodrama to political critique for an invigorating examination of the Troubles. Structurally fragmented through a series of conversations and confessions, Maeve is a quietly radical landmark in Irish and feminist cinema.