Set in the aftermath of WWII and based in Southend this gripping saga is richly evocative of the period and show the true grit of our heroine Ruby. After having lived peacefully in Suffolk as an evacuee, 15-year-old Ruby Blakeney is bought back to reality when her brutish brother Ray comes to take her to the East London suburb of Walthamstow. Far from being welcomed home with open arms, she is back to being treated as a drudge by her widowed mother and subject to a tirade of taunts from her two brothers. Things get worse when she finds herself pregnant and thrown out on the street. Forced to give up her baby Ruby makes a new start for herself in Southend, but finds she can't escape her past.