Kathy Cole, Ernie's--Bridget's first love--daughter, is a determined young woman. She refuses to stay at home with her bitter, drunken father, but wants to do her bit in the First World War, and train to be a nurse. During training she meets again Tom O'Rourke, Bridget's youngest brother. Tom is now a doctor and, being older and more senior than Kathy, he doesn't initially take much notice of the young, innocent Kathy Cole. Kathy herself shouldn't be thinking of Tom as she's promised to Tom's old friend from the Lanes, Billy Ryan. However, Kathy and Tom are thrown together and, like so many other young couples during the war, they become more intimate than perhaps they should. When the war is finally over, Kathy returns to the Lanes only to find herself pregnant. So, she makes a decision about her future, believing it to be the only possible solution...with disastrous effects.