A captivating saga set in London's East End - Moira and Jack Taylor own a thriving rag-and-bone business and have six children. Their contented family life is upset when their eldest daughter, Nora, steals 18-year-old Maggie's fiancé - Robert, a widower with a young son. Maggie, heartbroken, swears that she will never forgive her sister's betrayal, and marries on the rebound. The First World War and the Spanish flu epidemic of 1919 bring further tragedy, and the younger generation of the Taylor family embark on their own adventures in the years that follow, in this warm-hearted saga.