- It's the evening before Frank's sixteenth birthday and he's at the pub waiting for his Uncle Pa who promised to buy him his first pint.
- Uncle Pa Keating tells the entire pub that it's Frank's birthday and it isn't long before Frank has had way too much to drink.
- Uncle Pa tells Frank to go home but Frank decides that it's high time he confesses his sins. He knocks on the door of the church but they tell him that he can't confess in his inebriated state.
- When Frank gets home Angela says that Frank is just like his father. Frank says that he'd rather be like his dad than Laman Griffin. They get into a heated argument and Frank slaps Angela in the face.
- The next day Frank feels sorry for what he did but he doesn't apologize because he's still upset that Angela had sex with Laman.
- He spends the day walking around until it starts raining so hard he has to seek shelter. He ends up inside a Franciscan church, which has a statue of St. Francis of Assisi. Naturally. Franciscan.
- Frank begins to think about all the times he prayed to St. Francis for help. He's especially worried about sending Theresa to hell, hitting his mother, and masturbating all around Limerick.
- A priest hears Frank crying, puts his arm around Frank, and asks him what's wrong.
- Frank spills his life story beginning with Margaret and ending with the argument he had with his mother. The priest tells Frank not to worry, that as long as he's repentant, God will forgive him.
- Frank feels better now that he knows that Theresa isn't in hell.
- Frank shows up to the railway station bright and early on Monday morning where Mr. McCaffrey and Willie Harold are counting the magazines and newspapers to be delivered.
- In the morning, Frank and Willie deliver the newspapers.
- Back at the office there are two other boys who help with deliveries, Eamon and Peter. While Mr. McCaffrey's out, the boys smoke and look at pictures of women in lingerie.
- Frank's in charge of delivering the papers and magazines while Gerry Halvey, the delivery boy, is on vacation.
- Frank needs Gerry's bike and so they arrange to meet at the railway station where Gerry's waiting for his girlfriend, Rose.
- Gerry gets the idea that Rose has been cheating on him and walks away as soon as he sees her.
- Now that Gerry's gone, Rose has no one to help her carry her suitcase so Frank offers to take it on his bike.
- Gerry's waiting for Rose outside of her apartment. He asks Frank if he did anything with Rose. Frank convinces Gerry that Rose loves him and that he did nothing with her.
- It's bedlam back at the office and Mr. McCaffrey's at wit's end.
- There's an advertisement in the magazines he distributed earlier that day about birth control, which is illegal in Ireland.
- The Church thinks anyone who even reads about it will be doomed. Doomed.
- Mr. McCaffrey and the boys spend the rest of the days ripping out the advertisements from the magazines but not before the boys pocket some so they can sell them for a higher price. They know people are dying to get their hands on this info despite what the Church thinks.
- Sure enough, Frank ends up making over ten pounds in the next couple of days selling the birth control ads.
- He puts away most of the money for his trip to America and gives the rest to Angela so that they can all have a nice supper.
- Angela's got herself a new job taking care of an elderly man, and Malachy Jr. works in the stockroom of a garage.
- Gerry goes to England with Rose, and Frank takes over his job during the winter.
- When spring comes along there's a new messenger boy and Frank goes back to work in the offices.
- Eventually Eamon and Peter move to England and Malachy Jr. goes to work at a boarding school but doesn't last long and he ends up in Coventry shoveling coal.
- Frank dreams about America and can't wait for the day when he can leave Ireland.