Sean O'Neill lives unhappily with his wife, Yvonne, and their three young children. Sean struggles to conceal his temper and regularly beats up Yvonne as she tries to conceal the marital abuse from her family and finds it difficult to walk away from him. Yvonne's Irish mum, Mary and sister, Kerry aren't so easily deceived. Kerry arrives offering support much to the annoyance of Sean. Finally plucking up the courage to end her marriage, Yvonne gets Kerry's partner Alex to change the locks so Sean can't get into the house. But getting Sean out of her life proves impossible with him demanding access to the kids. As events spiral out of control Sean beats up Alex. It's all too much for Mary who dies suddenly after watching Alex being beat up. Recalling Mary's jibe to Sean that he'd be 'in the ground' before she was, Yvonne and Kerry ensure the prophecy comes true. They corner a drunken Sean and beat him to death with baseball bats, and dispose of the body in the plot that shortly afterwards sees Mary's coffin lowered into it.
