In the 1970s, Northern Irish Olympic swimmer marries a terminally ill woman, only to have his already chaotic life upturned by a tragic act of terrorism.

SYNOPSIS:

In the summer of 1972, a talented young swimmer named Aiden O'Brien, living in Belfast, Ireland goes to Munich for the Olympics. During the Israeli Hostage Situation that interrupts his swim, he meets a young aristocrat named Tess Derbyfield, and a spark develops. She watches him win gold, though she quickly realizes he is harboring a substance abuse problem, and he quickly realizes she had advanced stomach cancer.

Their relationship blossoms further over the summer, despite both their increasingly debilitating situations. Tess takes Aiden to meet her socialite mother at their estate in Austria, and Aiden takes Tess to meet his mother in Belfast. Aiden proposes to Tess when she reveals she is pregnant, though her cancer has become terminal. Several months later on the ride to the wedding in Belfast, one that Aiden insists be there despite the terrorism situation escalating, they are charmed by a couple they share a train with: Clementine and Alexandre.

On the night before the wedding, a promiscuous Clementine tempts Aiden with cocaine. They have a bender and black out, and when they awaken in a brutal state of disarray, including a semen stain Clementine does not have the time to get off the inside of her dress before the ceremony. Aiden rushes to the wedding, which goes well, until at the reception there is an IRA bombing that kills a number of guests. Clementine flies across the room and lands on Tess' head, who is so mortified when she sees the stain and realizes Aiden cheated on her. She passes out and her cancer takes a turn for the worse, and her baby has to be delivered by emergency C-section. Tess' dies, and Aiden swears to her on her deathbed that he will devote his life to their child Grace O'Brien, in full sobriety and chastity. Tess' family arranges a massive funeral, where Alexandre forgives Aiden. In an epilogue, Aiden passes away at Graceland, where he and Tess were going to honeymoon. Grace, now a Nun, gives him a small, respectful funeral and gives a eulogy about the father she loved more than anything.