In 1952 Eastenders are leaving their war-damaged homes and being settled into new places by the river - a new estate, with the luxury of electricity, hot water, gas cookers and proper bathrooms. Into the estate moves Edie Brown, a young war widow with a thirteen-year-old daughter, who works as a machinist in a clothing factory to eke out her small war pension.

During one lunch break at the factory Edie discovers from a friend that her husband's cousin is coming from Turkey to stay with her until he finds a room to rent. He is coming from a small village in Kara - the very mention of which makes Edie's blood run cold. Kara was where her husband's boat crashed against the mountainous shoreline while searching for a missing British plane. All those aboard were listed as missing and presumed dead, drowned at sea.

But the Turkish cousin will have a different story to tell...