Christmas. In a small Irish town, Bill Furlong, a coal and firewood seller and father of five daughters, is in his prime. One of his stops is a monastery, where the so-called training school for girls is located. It is led by the cold and domineering sister Maria, who hides a chilling secret. Rumors about this place have been circulating in the town for a long time, there are rumors that there is a Magdalene House in the monastery, where unmarried pregnant girls are sent for "re-education".
Bill soon witnesses a young woman being forced into this institution. A father of five daughters, he can't suppress the horror that this could happen to his children. He remembers his mother, who, being pregnant and single, managed to avoid a similar fate by settling in the house of a rich lady, where she found shelter and protection. Bill can no longer keep quiet when teenage Sarah mysteriously disappears, whom he accidentally finds locked in a cold and dark coal warehouse, begging for help.