One small island off the west coast of Ireland. Three priests. One housekeeper. A bunch of nuns - and the most consistently awful weather on the planet.

Three Roman Catholic priests have been banished to the remote, backward backwater of Craggy Island in various dubious circumstances:

Father Jack Hackett is a rambling, inane old drunk. Father Dougal McGuire means well, but is a true simpleton with less common sense than a toddler. And so, what passes for the 'running' of the island, the parochial house, and coping with housekeeper Mrs Doyle, is left to the only remotely sane member of the trio, Father Ted Crilly.