Yorkshire, 1963. Mihail Malinowski, son of Pamela and Andre, is now fourteen and like many of his generation, obsessed with the Beatles. Pamela Anichka, his childhood friend, yearns to be older than her twelve years and to feel included in things -- after all, she is nearly grown-up.

Pamela's parents, lan and Tania, fly home from the States after JFK's assassination, seeing all-too-clearly the difference in lifestyle between Yorkshire and New York. Dissatisfied with his career prospects, and desperate for a child of his own, lan feels life is passing him by -- particularly when he sees his brother's security and boisterous family. Tania, however, is more concerned by her increasingly wayward and rebellious daughter. In the era of miniskirts and marches, Pamela defies her parents by running away at the earliest opportunity.

But as each member of the family is forced to confront their own troubles, it is Pamela's grandmother, Mildred Baker, who stuns them most with an unexpected announcement ...