It is 1959 and the Armstrong family - Jack, Laura and their daughter, Kay - are setting off on their annual hop-picking holiday. Far from the bustle of the Stepney, the Kent hop fields offer hard work but fresh clean air and lively social gatherings around the campfires. Laura hopes to continue her seasonal love affair with the farm owner, Richard Wright, despite the presence of his wife and her husband; Kay, on the brink of womanhood, craves adventure and is thrown into turmoil by the handsome gypsy lad, Zacchi; and news is spreading of plans to mechanise the hop-picking, robbing the East Enders of their country idyll. As tensions grow between the cockneys and the local gypsies, it becomes clear that this summer will change lives for ever!