John visits his aging mother in her nursing home and tries to revive her ailing memory with the use of songs, photos and questions. Interwoven with John's visits to Mary is the story of Grace, a farm labourer’s daughter, who fell pregnant in 1917 and gave birth to an illegitimate daughter – Mary, who she was forced to give her away at birth. He finds out about the history of childhood displacement in his family, with both his mother and his grandmother.