The Weir: Plot Summary

The Weir begins in a small, rural bar in Ireland. It is evening and Jack (a mechanic) and Brendan (the owner of the pub) are discussing various events of each of their days while having a few drinks. Weather, family, horse racing; the conversation is a friendly one, but covers every topic imaginable. Eventually, they begin to gossip about Finbar, a successful, local businessman ; apparently, he has sold the Nealon home to a young woman from Dublin. The two find this impressive since the house has been empty for several years and Jack tells Brendan that Finbar plans to come by the bar to introduce them to the girl later in the night. Although there are no “real” hard feelings between any of the men, Jack disapproves of Finbar’s interaction with the woman because he believes it makes the rest of them appear desperate, not to mention that Finbar is a married man. Regardless, both men look forward to meeting her. A little later, Jim (Jack’s assistant) enters the pub and follows in the footsteps of his pals; he gets a couple of drinks and joins in on the conversation. He speaks of his day too, but the talks turn back to Finbar and the female once again. Jim confirms the beauty of the girl and tells the other two how attractive she is which leads to a collected suspicion. The men continue to drink and smoke (Jack) as they wait for their expected guests. Not too long after, Finbar and the woman, Valerie, enter the bar. Once everyone introduces themselves, all five begin to drink. For a while, the topic of interests is Finbar’s financial status (which a large chunk of seems to have come from his diseased father) and his intentions with Valerie. It starts off as a friendly, poke-fun-at talk, but turns swiftly once tension is built and the men become arrogant. Once everyone is calm, the men show Valerie some old photographs of themselves, the town, etc. Then, they talk about the weir and how it relates to the house that Valerie has just bought. Brendan speaks of the fairy road that runs beneath the home and from here, the stories begin. Jack is first; he tells the story of Birdie, a well-known, widowed woman in the area. She was sort of a practical joker, even at a young age, so no one took her very seriously. He explains that one day, she heard knocking on the door of the home, but when she went to open it, no one was there. At first she thought it was just someone playing a joke on her, getting her back, but it continued to happen, daily. Her daughter Maura could hear it too, but whenever she asked her mother if she wanted her to answer the door, Birdie would tell her not to worry about it, that it was nothing. Jack explains that she (Birdie) never told anyone of the knockings and that he discovered the happenings through Maura. The women later had a priest come by to bless the house and from that day on the knocking never returned….until the weir was going up. He concludes his story by telling the listeners that he too believed the house was built on a fairy road, which isn’t a road at all, but instead “a row of things”. After a few laughs and more drinks, Finbar starts a story. It’s about a young girl who fell down a flight of stairs and claimed she saw a man on the steps and could hear voices sometimes, like children outside her window and other delusional things; it shares some similarities to a later story as well. As usual, once Finbar is done, the group drinks again and Finbar goes on a rant about several things. He is cut off by Jim, who tells another supernatural tale. This story is different because it actually “happened” to the story teller; it starts off with Jim at a funeral with one of his friends, Declan. Declan leaves to go get something while Jim waits for him and a man walks out of the church towards him. The stranger tells him that Jim is standing at the wrong grave and that the man they were burying should not be buried at that spot. Jim is hesitant, but goes along with the man and they walk to a little girl’s tombstone. The man claims that this is the correct place, strokes the grave, and then walks back into the church. Jim continues his story, saying that to this day, the mother of the young girl never truly forgave him because the man that spoke to him that day had a reputation for being a pervert AND he was dead. What Jim saw that day was just the soul or something of a troubled man who wanted to her buried by an innocent child. This overwhelms everyone in the bar, so much so that Valerie needs to go to the restroom. Brendan tells her that it’s broken, but he’ll gladly take her into the house, which he does. While the two of them are gone, the rest of the men argue amongst each other for who started the foolishness that caused Valerie to be upset. They each blame each other, and when Valerie and Brendan return, they all apologize. She doesn’t accept their apology because she genuinely believes that there is nothing to apologize for; she has enjoyed the entire night and each of the three stories. In fact, she even begins to tell a story; her story is personal and it’s true, however, this isn’t revealed until the end. It’s about her daughter, Niamh, and the fallout from her death. Valerie loved her; she speaks of the nightmares she used to have and how she was scared to be alone without her mother and father. Then the mood shifts and she tells the men how she made a promise to her daughter, to be there to see her swim…but she couldn’t make it, she was late because of work. When she did get there, kids and parents were crying and an ambulance was there. A woman told her that Niamh hit her head in the pool and they were working on reviving her, that she was going to be ok. But she wasn’t. In a matter of moments, she was gone and all Valerie got a chance to do was give her a final hug. The funeral of course was hard and so was living without her baby, but one day, the phone rang. She didn’t answer it, but it rang again, so she did and on the other line was Niamh. The first word she said was “Mammy,”; she thought she was at nana’s and she wanted someone to come and get her. Valerie dropped the phone and ran to the car instantly and drove; what’s worse is she knew that she was going to be there and she cried the entire drive. Ever since then, her relationship with Daniel (husband) has fallen apart and she still struggles with the idea of the loss being solely her fault. What started out as a playful activity to pass time grew to be serious. After hearing this and realizing that this fiction is indeed a fact, the men express their sympathy. She thanks them all for their support and they began to bond again. Not too long after this (after more drinks too, of course), Jim leaves with Finbar and Jack, Brendan and Valerie continue talking. Brendan has not told a story all night and will not because Valerie opens the door for Jack to tell another tale. She asks questions like if he has kids, is he married, why he’s alone, etc. and he answers her with a love story. He tells her of a time when he was young, once when he loved and how he took advantage of the girl. All he wanted was sex; he didn’t write her back, didn’t want her around the house, etc. How he failed to treat her right and how he knew what he was doing was wrong. He tells her that at her wedding, she looked at him like he was just another guest; no passion, no hate, just that empty, fake stare and that devastated him. He couldn’t even go to the reception. He walked to a bar in the rain and this barman, a complete stranger, fixed him a sandwich. That meant something to him; a guy who knew nothing about him who he had never met before cared and wanted to help. He claims that he regrets it every day and has felt terrible about it every day of his life since. He also states that this isn’t a ghostly tale. Valerie and Brendan lighten the room up by switching the topic. The play ends with Valerie, Brendan and Jack walking out of the door, discussing Germans.