Scottie, a decadent university administrator with a weakness for drink and women, visits his daughter Tina who is studying in Aberystwyth. She wants nothing to do with him because of the shabby way he has treated his ex-wife. After a heavy drinking session, he murders an injured IRA man he finds on the beach and steals the documents the man was carrying. The IRA cell try to hunt him down to recover the papers and exert pressure on him by kidnapping his daughter. Despite his cowardice, he decides that he will do one decent thing in his life and try to rescue his daughter. With the help of three university students he decodes the documents, discovers the IRA arms cache and then does a deal to recover Tina. The deal results in her freedom and his death.