The story, set in an Irish Catholic community of Yorkshire circa in the 1960s, follows a 30-year-old man and his attempts at liberating himself from his domineering mother.

[1] The title refers to his mother's wish that her "favorite" son, despite being in his thirties already, pursue the career path of a clergyman.

While his two brothers Matthew and Paul have been married with children for many years, Vincent is still single and living at home with his widowed mother, who is also a teacher.

In the meantime she has settled down in a flat of her own, and this is where they have sex for the first time, without Vincent confessing to Laura that he has recently made love to his own sister-in-law.

Out of jealousy, Maureen writes Laura's ex-husband Robert an anonymous letter, urging him to make up with his wife again.

Then Robert commits suicide, paving the way for a Catholic wedding between Vincent and Laura, who are planning to leave the past behind and start a new life somewhere else.

Other actors featured were Marcia Warren (Mrs. Dungarvan), Andrew Dunn (Matthew) and Roy Walker (the Monsignor).