The second world war is over… Birmingham is welcoming home its menfolk, and a new chapter is beginning in Rachel Booker’s life. Her family is reunited and life settles into a routine – but Rachel yearns for more. Melly, Rachel’s eldest daughter, is a child of the war. She grew up in the bombed-out streets…

Young Maryann Nelson is devastated by the loss of her beloved father. But more heartache is to come when her mother marries Norman Griffin, the local undertaker, in an attempt to better herself and her family. Though on the surface a caring family man, Norman is not at all what he seems – as Maryann…