'But, Dad, I want to be a ladyl' Southampton, 1954. Bryony Travis is the daughter of Dan Travis, a second-hand car dealer who also deals in stolen goods. An avid reader of Tatler magazine, Bryony longs to escape her father's shady associates and meet sophisticated people with good manners. When a wealthy barrister buys a car from her father, she is introduced to his handsome son, James Sinclair. Through James, Bryony steps up into the high society circles which she has always yearned to be part of and has a fine time, going to Ascot, dining at the Savoy. However, she soon gets a shock when she discovers that the aristocracy and her father's gangland friends aren't as different as she'd imagined...