When her East Yorkshire family is shaken by news of the German occupation of Norway in 1940, Rachel Skelton takes leave from her military hospital to cross the North Sea and rescue her grandmother, Hedda, from Bergen. During her short stay there Rachel is reacquainted with Olav Larsen, a distant relative. Olav has changed since her pre-war visits, and Rachel immediately feels that he fills a long-felt gap in her life. For Rachel, the life-changing meeting with Olav has left her longing to know that he is safe while the war deprives her of news of him. Her emotions become torn between her concern for this Norwegian and her good working relationship with surgeon Hamish Wilson. Hamish saves Rachel's life and her whole family respond to his evident devotion to her, but will this prove enough to make her forget the feelings Olav generated during their brief reunion?'