World War II is over and the troops are coming home. Four women who live in a small village near Penzance await their husbands' return with mixed emotions. Carrie Pollard is excitedly awaiting the arrival of Archie, her POW husband. Gwen, meanwhile, devastated when her husband's ship was torpedoed and he was listed as missing, presumed dead, threw herself into a series of love affairs. Now she's had a telegram to say her husband is coming home. Shirley became pregnant by an American GI, but had an early miscarriage. She is now full of guilt and doesn't know whether to confess to her fiance. Velma, the oldest of the four women, became a bus conductress while her husband Stan was away driving tanks. Having tasted independence for the first time, she plans to ask Stan for a divorce. With life returning to a fragile normality, and more than one buried secret being unearthed, the four friends discover that they are not the only ones to have changed, mentally, physically, and emotionally.