The Irish Famine is perhaps the most defining moment in Irish history. Belfast Girls explores the effects of the Famine on some of its women, and how the rulers and the clergy colluded to cleanse the country of “undesirables.” It depicts a group of high-spirted women who come to realize that the powers-that-be in their country have spat them out. The women on board the Inchinnan are inspired by the suffrage movement, and embrace the then strange notion that women can take charge of their own destinies.