1854 - the Crimean War is in full swing. Gideon, a navvy, is helping to organise a contract for a stretch of supply railway line there to transport guns and food to the soldiers. Back home in Cornwall Alice is waiting for him. But her vicar employee has recently died and his replacement doesn't want her. An orphan and ostracised by the rest of the village, she's got nowhere to go. Leaving messages for Gideon's letters to be forwarded on to her, she is taken in by the Sisters of Mercy and finds herself looking after cholera-ridden children in Plymouth. With a shortage of nurses in the Crimea, she finds herself given a chance to see if Gideon loves her as much as she loves him - when they can catch up with each other..