Angela Mooney is an unhappy, middle-aged woman who is attempting suicide--not her first time--because the local creamery is being bought by an American company known as Little Rooster Corporation. The whole town is celebrating the takeover but Angela is certain that it will destroy the towns roots not to mention the work her husband, Barney, has done to employ local residents. Through flashbacks, it becomes clear that Angela's anxiety is rooted in the fact that she never got over a childhood love, a handsome young Scottish Soldier named Malone. He left her to pursue a business career in the US, leaving her heartbroken. The older Malone, however, returns to the town as a guest of honor now that he is a rich mogul which further exacerbates Angela's desperate state.