Joe and Geraldine Mooney are Finglas folk through and through. Though they've since moved out of the area, their daughter Lisa and her fiánce Gavin still live in the cottage where Joe grew up at a time when Finglas was more rural village that city suburb.

With mum and dad footing the bill for the renovation, architect Dermot Bannon is given a limited budget to revamp the cottage and add a modern extension. Early on, he and QS Patricia Power are agreed on one thing: 'it can't be done'.