A young woman named Eena tells her lover Lafferty about her grandmother's priceless emerald ring, which Eena refers to as the Ring of Kerry. She tells Lafferty that her grandfather buried the ring with her grandmother's body, and the gravesite is not too far from where they are in Ireland. Some time later, Eena and Lafferty are driving to dinner together when Eena suggests they dig up the ring. Lafferty had secretly been thinking about this possibility on his own, and he is pleased Eena has brought it up of her own accord. Eena and Lafferty eat a fancy dinner at the Oyster Tavern. While there, they glimpse Lafferty's wife leaving the restaurant with another man. After dinner, Lafferty and Eena wait in a motel for darkness. When it's late enough, they slip across the street to the graveyard. Lafferty begins shoveling down into the grave; Eena tries to help him but she is very meek. When Lafferty reaches the coffin, he finds the ring on the finger of Eena's grandmother, but Eena informs him that one is a fake. The real ring is tucked underneath the skeleton. Eena asks Lafferty to hand the real ring up to her, and once he does, she hits him repeatedly over the head with the shovel and then runs towards the car. Lafferty makes it out of the hole that he's dug, and stumbles, bleeding, to the hill overlooking the graveyard. When Eena returns, screaming her apologies, he stays silent until she leaves again. Once she does, Lafferty examines the real Ring of Kerry in his hand — for he had lied and given Eena the fake one. Very early morning, Lafferty decides to hitchhike. He is picked up by a man, but soon sees the gun lying across his lap and realizes that this is Ray — a man just released from prison whom Eena had mentioned to Lafferty. Eena had called Ray that morning, in tears — she had tried to steal the ring for Ray as a present to give him at his discharge but had failed him. Eena was the reason Ray had been imprisoned in the first place — the first time Eena had tried to steal the Ring of Kerry, with Ray, Ray had been caught. Ray demands that Lafferty hand over the ring, but Lafferty can't — it's stuck on his finger. They drive to a motel where Eena is waiting. Ray brings the group to the bathroom of their room, where he intends to cut off Lafferty's finger to get the ring, but Eena insists she can get it off without violence. She puts Lafferty's finger in her mouth, loosening the ring until it slides down her throat. Ray slaps her on the back until the ring arcs into the toilet. Lafferty flushes the toilet; the ring disappears down the pipes. Ray shoots his gun at Lafferty, but hits Eena. As she bleeds heavily, Ray yells at Lafferty to get help. Lafferty leaves, taking Ray's car, and drives away as fast as he can. He never quite forgets about the ring.