At first glance, this true story of an Irish couple driven apart by religious prejudice in the 1950s has all the earmarks of a treacly-shamrocky PBS film. The fiddle-driven soundtrack, misty vistas, and smattering of actors from Ballykissangel all seem to seal its fate. But fine performances and the script’s Guinness-dark tone give it some depth.

Sean and Sheila Cloney (Liam Cunningham and Orla Brady) are Catholic-Protestant newlyweds in Fethard-on-Sea (in County Wexford) who, under pressure from the local parish priest, sign an agreement saying they will bring up their children as Catholics. When the time comes, headstrong Sheila wants to renege while the local padre (Tony Doyle) persuades Sean to stand firm. With the help of other Protestants in the village, Sheila takes her two daughters away, first to Belfast and then to the Orkney Islands, where she works on a farm for their bed and board, unaware that the community she left behind has divided bitterly over the matter. Boycotts, arson, and arse whupping are but a few of the tactics employed by the local Catholics; eventually the Vatican and the world media get in on the act. Although the film does drop in a heavy-handed reference to the endless Troubles in Northern Ireland, well, a reminder now and again isn’t such a bad thing.