Circle of Friends is a 1995 film directed by Irish filmmaker Pat O'Connor, and based on the 1990 novel of the same name written by Maeve Binchy. The movie was well received by critics and was a box office success. Plot Set in 1950s Ireland, the film relates the experiences of Bernadette "Benny" Hogan and her friends: Eve Malone and Nan Mahon. They are characterised during their First Communion: Benny is the beloved and well-fed only child of a tailor with a shop, Eve is the orphan reared by nuns and Nan is destined to be defined by her beauty. They grow up in the small town of Knockglen. Eight years later, Nan has moved to Dublin, and Benny and Eve have graduated from convent school and are heading to Dublin and university. Eve's education is financed by the local landowning Westward Protestant family, who employed her father before his death. She has also been granted one of their estate cottages. She boards at a Dublin convent, while Benny commutes between home and Dublin, her parents being loath to lose her. They wish her to marry the creepy Sean Walsh, her father's employee, to secure the business's future. In Dublin, the two girls reconnect with a mature, sophisticated Nan who is aware of her beauty. Benny falls for Jack Foley, a handsome rugby player and doctor's son studying medicine, though he is not convinced of this career. After the College Ball, they begin a relationship, Eve dates Aidan, a friend of Jack's, and Nan becomes involved with the older Simon Westward, heir to the estate. While Benny resists sex with Jack, Nan does not with Simon, believing he truly loves her. When Benny's father dies, she suspends studies to care for her devastated mother and run the family shop. Sean attempts to woo her. Benny notices funds are missing and suspects Sean is involved but lacks proof. Eve's cottage serves as a party location for the women. Nan and Simon visit it secretly. Nan becomes pregnant and tells Simon, sure he will marry her but Simon says he must marry for money to maintain the family estate. He offers her money for an abortion in England. A desperate Nan seeks Aidan, but runs into Jack, who has not seen Benny since her father's funeral. She convinces him to take her to a party and lures him into sex, later pretending