From the moment of his violent birth, involving the death of his mother, his life seems ill-fated, but it is unclear what kind of ability, if any, he possesses.

Growing up in rural Ireland, his grandmother tells him about the strange quirks of his ancestors and the boy begins to experiment on himself, longing to discover some extraordinary, hidden power.

But instead, his experiments lead to the death of his family's livestock, followed swiftly by the loss of Philip and his beloved grandmother, Charlotte.

In the chaos that ensues, he finally begins to comprehend the dark, destructive nature of his powers, and at the first opportunity he goes into hiding.

Initially, he is reluctant to have anything to do with her, fearful of harming her, but Mae has already resigned herself to her fate and is afraid of very little – certainly not of James with his gentle nature, and childlike innocence.

Mae wants to savour all the time she has left in the world and hates to see someone so loving and compassionate isolated from it and denying himself everything that life has to offer.

In the final climactic scenes, Liam confronts James with the destruction of his past, and kills him with a pair of scissors, before running away.