Grace Wilkins and Bessie Rudney have been neighbours for over twenty years but it takes the outbreak of World War Two for them to become friends. The more time Grace spends with Bessie, her six boistrous children and her loving husband Tom, the more she realises what has been missing from her own loveless marriage.

As the war takes its toll on Leicester, and one by one the men folk leave to join the fighting, Grace finds comfort in helping others. Each day, as she takes on another new challenge, Grace realises that her daughter might have been right all along - it's time to break out, really make something of her life, and possibly find true love, before it's too late...