Amber Penry lives with her grandmother in a small Falmouth cottage. At the outbreak of WWII, their peaceful life is disrupted by Dolly Nash, a London evacuee, who is billeted with them for the duration of the war. Resentful and wary of one another at first, and as different as chalk and cheese, the two girls gradually become firm friends, a friendship which strengthens as the war drags on and the girls blossom into beautiful young women. But their friendship is to be put to the sternest of tests when both girls fall for the same man, Luke Gillam, a boat-builder's son. As the old jealousies and resentments re-surface, a furious confrontation seems inevitable.