Olthorp, a steel town in Lancashire, celebrates VE day. The end of war and a time for celebration. But for a group of young friends it's not that simple - the rest of their lives is only just beginning. For Connie, the end of an unexpected pregnancy and her husband, a returning POW, present her with an impossible choice of deception or shame; and for Martha, a friendship that is asking too much, a husband that needs too little from her and a brother whose past is coming back to haunt him with his new intentions make her own life feel dangerously out of control. Five friends have to find a way to unravel their tangled lives as they try to survive the war and its aftermath without losing each other.