When Nell Bailey is wounded in a Flying Bomb attack, it is up to her daughter, Josie, to hold the family together. But Josie's new responsibilities don't stop her imagining a brighter future - a future she hopes to share with Jonny Francis, whom she has loved for as long as she can remember.

Her younger brother Tommy, however, does not adjust so easily to the changes in family life. The mounting tension between himself and Josie reaches its peak and Tomy storms out of the house, vowing to live with his dad. But when he finds himself caught up in the notorious Pedlar's plan to assassinate an eminent political figure, he begins to wish that he'd left well enough alone, for nothing will ever be the same again...