Selling Silence tells the story of a woman who was a victim of clerical abuse in her childhood. In 2002 the Residential Institutions Redress Board was set up to award compensation to persons who were abused while resident in religious-run residential institutions. All hearings were conducted in private, and the awards were dependent on the victims signing a secrecy agreement. No perpetrator was sentenced to a punishment. Aideen, our protagonist, has decided not to sell her silence. A turning point comes when she learns that her niece needs an expensive operation, one that the state will not cover the cost of. Aideen must rethink her decision.