Shirtless men are seen several times. A naked woman is discovered on the shore; no explicit nudity is seen.

A little boy is shown nude from the rear multiple times and from the front several times. His genitals are visible.

When grandfather Hugh is telling the tale of his ancestor, a scene is shown when a teen boy yells at his school master and Hugh states that he beat the man up.

When Fiona comes across her cousin Tadgh, he and several others are gutting fish.

While Hugh's ancestor assails his schoolmaster, he yells something in Irish which causes Tess to remind Hugh that he is speaking to a "little girl." The Irish is never translated.

Near the beginning, Fiona enters a smoke-filled pub looking for her father. During the scene, drinks are seen on the bar but all drinking is off-screen.

Hugh smokes a tobacco pipe in several scenes.

When Hugh's ancestor is punished and strikes back at his schoolmaster, it is intense for a short moment.

In a flashback scene described by Hugh, Fiona's baby brother is washed far out to sea in his boat-like cradle with the help of attacking sea gulls. The boy's distraught father yells and chases after the cradle in a boat but cannot reach it and the baby is presumed lost and drowned.