Dancing at Lughnasa is a memory play that looks back on the summer of 1936 in Ireland, as the Festival of Lughnasa fires blaze away on the hills and August comes to a close. In a tiny house below, a mentally ill brother returns home, a lover reappears, a radio plays intermittent music that never lasts for long, and the five Mundy sisters--all unmarried, each full of regrets and secrets and longings--begin to witness the inevitable unraveling of their lives.