Brought up by her mother and grandmother in London's Docklands, Poppy harbours a secret ambition to become a musician like her father. Waitressing in the drinking clubs during the terrible Great War is where she first hears ragtime and it is there she falls in love with the exotic American, Scott Warrender. After tragically losing him she succeeds in forming the first all-female band and flighty, charming Roddy Ffitch does his best to make her forget...From smoky clubs to ocean liners, through the war, the reckless dancing years and the Wall Street Crash, Poppy is determined to succeed. Only her last ambition remains unfulfilled - to share it with the man she loves.