Pregnant, and abandoned by her lover, Alice Meredith must make some tough decisions in order to secure a future for herself and the baby. In despair, she allows herself to be persuaded to marry the much older Henry Lightfoot, owner of the Mere Hotel in Chester, where Alice works as assistant manager. While keeping her pregnancy a closely guarded secret, Alice continues her work at the hotel and becomes involved in the lives of many of the guests. There's her good friend Edith, a permanent resident of the hotel, who falls for and runs away with a handsome doctor, with disastrous consequences. Then there's the widowed Mr Lester with his young daughter Perdita, who must face yet more sorrow before long. Life looks like it is finally shaping up for Alice, until a face from the past comes back to Chester to haunt her...