The formula is nothing especially new, in fact it's about four hundred years old. Starting with Romeo and Juliet, forbidden love stories, have since been among the most favoured types. Love and Savegery is no masterpiece, but it's more realistic than melodramatic, and very down to Earth.
Michael is a geologist from Newfoundland who hops across the pond to study rocks in Ireland, starting with the cliffs outside a small Christian fishing town. He meets Cathleen, young and pretty, but on her way to nunnery. As she starts to win Michael's heart, the town gets increasingly uncomfortable with his presence, but the young man refuses to abandon his feelings.
The film from start to finnish looks and feels natural. My one problem with the film comes somewhere between the beginning of the third act, and the last two scenes. The story drags a bit too long with the initial romantic conflict being presented again and again in each scene. It pushes a little hard. Good thing the film ends the way it did, otherwise it would have been a cheesy romance. I also like the way the film closes with the same shot it begins with, it is only at moments like that do you realize how far you've gone through a story, which isn't even that long in running length. So all in all, Love and Savegery is a romance worth seeing.