Chris McCool, the dandyish, debonair playboy of a small and insulated community called the Happy Club, reflects on his two lives: the one he lives and the darker one he's tried hard to forget. The illegitimate son of a rich Protestant landowner's wife and a poor Catholic farmer, Chris wanted to be a sixties swinger - driving a Ford Cortina, owning a pair of purple velvet flares - but, despite his good intentions, could not overcome the mysteries and regrets of his own upbringing.