Adele Talbot is twelve when her younger sister is killed in a road accident in London's Kings Cross, and her mother Rose - so devastated by the loss - begins to abuse her. Adele is sent to a children's home in Tunbridge Wells, but soon runs away to trace her grandmother- Honour who she has discovered lives in Sussex. But Honour is a bitter, eccentric woman who is not best pleased to see her granddaughter. Eventually the two forge some sort of bond and Honour allows Adele to stay. When Adele meets Michael Bailey on the marshes two years later and real love and friendship enter her life, she feels she can finally put her hurtful past behind her. But then war breaks out and as if that wasn't upheaval enough, Rose decides to rear her ugly head again. And she has a few unpleasant surprises for Adele...