Mala is eight years old in 1966 and Bayswater is her oyster as far as she and her three best friends are concerned. In spite of being poor - Beth is the daughter of a prostitute, Caroline s parents are Chinese waiters and Jan s Irish drunks, while Mala s mother is a Ceylonese immigrant single mother who cleans for a living - and being visited regularly by the social, the girls know that life is great and it s only going to get better . . .