After fleeing the Oklahoma Dust Bowl, the Joad family finds the conditions in California are almost as bad, as people fight for jobs and their own day-to-day survival.
Two friends who grew up together in a small Irish village attend college in Dublin, where their lives become intertwined with the beautiful Nan Mahon and Jack Foley, the handsome son of a doctor.
Detective Eve Dallas, still haunted by the memory of stabbing her abusive father to death, investigates a series of killings by a man who seduces women in online poetry chat rooms.