Somewhere far out, lives Red Raftery in his decaying farmhouse. He has killed off his livestock, so the surrounding fields stink of putrefying carcases. The indoor conditions are not much better. It is Red’s 40 years old daughter, Dinah who runs the household and furthermore she has functioned as Red’s wife since she was only twelve. Additionally there is the retarded son Ded who stays in the cowshed out of fear for his Father. With the youngest daughter Sorrel, it is indicated that her real Mother is her sister Dinah. She is 18 years old and is to be engaged with a young farmer from the neighbourhood. Unfortunately the young lad criticises the old farmer whereby the latter takes revenge by raping his own daughter on the kitchen table. Throughout the play the old senile Grandmother is unsuccessfully trying to escape to India where she was born, all the while an old neighbour has fallen in love with his cat that is eventually put down in a rather gruesome way.
As usual, Carr has created a fantastic gallery of characters together with melodramatic situations that are almost on the verge of being tragicomic. Furthermore the horrible incidents are narrated with a great poetic force.
