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Set in post-WW I Ireland, Fools of Fortune takes place on the huge estate of the aristocratic Quinton family. Sheltered from the economic and political travails all around them, the Quintons are shocked into the Real World when one of their workers is ritualistically murdered. This is but one more bloody chapter in the ongoing struggle between the IRA and the British Army. Previously noncommittal, the Quintons are thrust into the middle of the struggle, After a deadly confrontation in which most of his loved ones are killed, young Willie Quinton (Sean T. McClory as a youth, Ian Glen as an adult) vows revenge. He briefly forgets his new purpose in life during a romantic liaison with his cousin Marianne (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), but a renewed cycle of tragedy galvanizes Willie into disastrous action. It is difficult to sort out the heroes and villains in Fools of Fortune; it is a certainty, however, that the true victims are the Innocent. Michael Hirst based his screenplay on a novel by William Trevor.