Dublin, en 1985, Conor Lawlor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo ), un jeune lycéen de 15 ans, est contraint de changer de lycée car ses parents, touchés par la crise économique, n'ont plus d'argent pour payer ses études. Dans ce nouvel établissement, il subit l'ambiance désastreuse du lycée religieux « Synge Street ». Inspiré par les groupes mythiques de l'époque tels que The Cure, Duran Duran ou encore A-ha, le jeune garçon forme un groupe de musique avec l'aide de ses nouveaux camarades et de son grand frère Brendan (Jack Reynor), pour séduire la belle et mystérieuse mannequin Raphina (Lucy Boynton).
A thirty-something Dublin busker ("Guy", played by Glen Hansard) sings and plays guitar on Grafton Street, a Dublin shopping district. He struggles with the trials of performing on the street. Lured by his music, an unnamed young Czech immigrant flower seller ("Girl", played by Markéta Irglová) talks to him about his songs. Delighted to learn that he also repairs Hoovers (a brand name that became synonymous with vacuum cleaners in the United Kingdom and Ireland), she insists that he fix her broken vacuum cleaner.
In 1982, Johnny and Sarah Sullivan and their daughters Christy and Ariel enter the United States on a tourist visa via Canada, where Johnny was working as an actor. The family settles in New York City, in a rundown Hell's Kitchen tenement occupied by drug addicts, transvestites, and a reclusive Nigerian artist/photographer named Mateo Kuamey. Hanging over the family is the death of their five-year-old son Frankie, who died from a brain tumor. The devout Roman Catholic Johnny questions God and has lost any ability to feel true emotions, which has affected his relationship with his family. Christy believes she has been granted three wishes by her dead brother, which she only uses at times of near-dire consequences for the family as they try to survive in New York.
Ivan Cooper organise une marche pacifique pour l'égalité des droits entre catholiques et protestants, en Irlande du Nord. Mais la manifestation dégénère et des manifestants sont abattus par des soldats de l'armée britannique. Cette fusillade sanglante a fait 13 morts et 14 blessés par balles. Une 14e victime mourra quelques mois plus tard succombant à ses blessures.
In the northside of Dublin, Jimmy Rabbitte aspires to manage the world's greatest band, with only one music in mind: soul. Disgusted with bands in Ireland, and beginning with his friends Outspan and Derek, he assembles a band in the tradition of 1960s black American recording artists like Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett. By advertising for applicants in a newspaper and asking around to promising acquaintances, Jimmy holds auditions at his parents' home and assembles a band together. Unlike his idols, Jimmy's band is white.
County Cork, Ireland, 1920. Dr. Damien O'Donovan is about to leave his native village to practise medicine in a London hospital. Meanwhile, his brother Teddy commands the local flying column of the Irish Republican Army. After a hurling match, Damien witnesses the summary execution of his friend, Micheál Ó Súilleabháin, by British Black and Tans. Although shaken, Damien rebuffs his friends' entreaties to stay in Ireland and join the IRA, saying that the war is unwinnable. As he is leaving town, Damien witnesses the British Army vainly trying to intimidate a railway guard and the train driver for refusing to permit the troops to board. In response, Damien decides to stay and is sworn into Teddy's IRA brigade.
Gerry Boyle (Gleeson) is a Sergeant in the Garda Síochána, stationed in the Connemara Gaeltacht of western Ireland. He is crass, confrontational, and regularly indulges in alcohol, narcotics, and prostitutes while on duty. Despite this, Sgt. Boyle lives by a very strict ethical code and shows love and concern for his ailing mother, Eileen (Flanagan).
In the film, the Taliban are ruling Afghanistan. Their regime is especially repressive for women, who, among other things, are not allowed to work. This situation becomes difficult for one family consisting solely of three women, representing three successive generations: a young girl, her mother, and her grandmother. With the mother's husband and uncle dead, having been killed in battle during the Soviet invasion and their civil wars, there are no men left to support the family. The mother had been working as a nurse in a hospital, but the Taliban cut off funding to the hospital, leaving it completely dysfunctional with no medicines and very little equipment. One foreign woman working as a nurse in the hospital is arrested by the Taliban. The mother does some nursing outside the hospital and receives payment from the caretaker of a patient, but after the patient dies the mother cannot find any more work.
En 1961, en pleine Guerre froide, l'Afrique, notamment le Congo, sont des lieux stratégiques pour les superpuissances et les compagnies minières à la recherche de cobalt et d'uranium. En pleine crise, le sud-est du pays est désormais sous le contrôle de Moïse Tshombe. L'ONU monte alors l'opération Morthor pour le faire tomber.
At a fairground in rural Northern Ireland, IRA foot soldier Fergus (Stephen Rea) and a unit of other IRA fighters, including a woman named Jude (Miranda Richardson) and led by Maguire (Adrian Dunbar), kidnap Jody (Forest Whitaker), a black British soldier, after Jude lures him to a secluded area with the promise of sex. The IRA demands the release of jailed IRA members, threatening to execute Jody in three days if their demands are not met. Fergus is tasked to guard Jody and develops a bond with the prisoner, much to the chagrin of the other IRA men. During this time, Jody tells Fergus the story of the Scorpion and the Frog.
A Cuba, un jeune homme qui coiffe les perruques d'artistes travestis, rêve de chanter dans leur cabaret. Mais son père, qui sort de prison, a d'autres rêves pour lui…
« Mad » Mary retourne à Drogheda après un court passage en prison. De retour à la maison, tout a changé. Sa meilleure amie, Charlene, est sur le point de se marier et Mary doit être sa dame d'honneur.
Rosie et son mari forment une famille heureuse avec leurs quatre jeunes enfants. Travailleurs pauvres, ils vivent modestement de leurs revenus à Dublin. Le jour où leur propriétaire décide de vendre leur appartement, leur vie bascule dans la précarité. Trouver une chambre, même pour une nuit, est un défi quotidien. Avec beaucoup d’amour et de courage, Rosie et son mari vont affronter cette épreuve, et tout faire pour préserver leur famille.
The story revolves around an attempt by Micky O'Neill (Dunbar) to revive the fortunes of his Liverpool nightclub by promising his patrons that he will produce Josef Locke. After a series of unfortunate bookings (including, most notably, Franc Cinatra, a Sinatra impersonator), Micky books the mysterious Mr. X, a man who insists that he cannot be booked as Jo Locke due to the legal issues that would invariably ensue. The elusive Locke left England during the 1950s to avoid paying taxes, leaving behind "a beauty queen, a Jaguar sportscar, and a pedigree dalmatian, all of them pining." O'Neill's personal and professional life are left in ruin after the beauty queen, Kathleen Doyle, exposes his Mr. X as a fraud. O'Neill returns to Ireland to find the one true Josef Locke and bring him back.