With the money she earns making clothes day and night on a battered sewing machine, Violet manages to provide a living for herself and her two daughters in their small home inside the old fortress of the southern port city of Galle. Violet is faithful to the behavior of a single mother in this traditional, post-colonial, Roman Catholic community of the 1960's. Her husband, a boorish pompous man, who left her when the children were very young, visits now and again to see his daughters and to gloatingly remind Violet that he is still her lawfully wedded spouse. The eldest married daughter returns home with her husband to give birth to Violet's first grandchild. The younger daughter is attracted to a dashing James Dean-like young man on a motorcycle and Violet agrees to see him and his family to arrange a marriage. But these two happy milestones in her life are overtaken by the arrival of a message on one dark night from Violet's first and only love, Victor. He returns to the port after twenty five years of sailing around the world as a merchant seaman. He is unwell and needs special treatment. Violet introduces Victor to her family as a distant relative and takes him into her house to provide him with the care he desperately needs. As he recovers from his illness, their love is rekindled. the passions kept hidden for so long, resurface, and the relationship is noticed with disapproval by family and friends. Violet gets pregnant and is forced to induce a miscarriage. Her younger daughter's engagement is called off. Unable or unwilling to play the guilt-laden role expected of her uncompromising and unforgiving society, Violet decides to follow her heart and live "happily ever after" with Victor. She finally finds this happiness. But some call it insanity.