Linked through marriage to three brothers, the Underwood women prove time and again that they are a force to be reckoned with. Jodie has travelled a hard road to reach her own prosperity, despite her husband's constant unreliability. Yet she can't bring herself to fully sever ties with John. But now with a potential new love waiting nearby, Jodie must make a decision she has been avoiding for too long. Widowed at a young age, Lariane believes her marriage to Rick was perfect.

Like most in London's 1920s East End, Joan Baldwin has her crosses to bear. Her greatest by far is her husband: a violent drinker and gambler. When he perishes, Joan is surprised by her sudden freedom. She finds a housekeeping job in Kent, and when her employer dies, leaving her 200 guineas, Joan is able to start her own dressmaking business. Then she meets Eric Roussel, a charismatic businessman, and it looks like happiness will finally be hers. But is he a little too slick to be trusted?

Ella has lived in the East End of London all her life and when her husband determines to move to Epsom to be near the racecourse he frequents and loves, Ella's refusal to join him breaks up their tempestuous marriage. Ella soon loses the will to keep smart, trim, and fit: until her mother steps in to pick up the pieces. It works: Ella gets a job as barmaid in the British Legion club and begins to take pride in her appearance again. When Dennis turns up for a drink one night, he is taken by surprise.

London 1964. Patsy Kent, now a mother, grandmother, and even great-grandmother, is discovering that it is her family who give her the most pleasure in life, but also the most pain. Her children, Ellen and David, are both going through difficult times with their marriages. The next generation is also giving Patsy cause for concern: Frances, her only granddaughter, may be enjoying the nightlife of the swinging 60s, but it is about to land her in a whole heap of tragedy and trouble.

Flame-haired beauty Chloe Collard watched her mother struggle through life, scraping together pennies in order to provide for her and her brothers, so Chloe promised herself something a long time ago: she would get a proper education and make something of herself. This vow would carry Chloe through her entire life. When Chloe is offered a job as a personal assistant in a prestigious firm, she finally feels that her hard work is paying off.

Spirited Paula O'Brien wants to escape her family home and start a new life, but is scared of defying her abusive father. He had her put away in an asylum as a child and he threatens her with the same treatment if she disobeys him now. When she sees a newspaper advert for a live-in nanny, her best friend persuades her to apply. When grieving widower Jeffrey Lawson invites Paula to an interview, she doesn't realise it will change her life forever. And Jeffrey doesn't expect to meet a woman like Paula.

When Janey has to leave her home after her stepfather beats her up, she finds herself in a children's home. She soon settles in, and the friends she makes become her new family. But at 16, Janey has to leave the home and is found a job as a housemaid. She feels abandoned again and the job is awful. Her situation doesn't improve until she meets Christy, a blind woman, and is employed as her companion. When Janey meets Christy's son, Charles, she falls in love with him. But alas, Charles is married.

Lily Grace has escaped the confines of the Scottish village where she grew up, and is at college in Newcastle. She loves her student life and hopes to stretch her wings even further by working on a cruise ship. The only cloud on the horizon is the blunder she made when she kissed her lecturer. Then a trip to Ireland for a family funeral changes everything. There she meets student Dara Ryan, and her brother Declan is smitten by the gorgeous Ava. Lily and Dara fall in love but she is fearful that a long-distance love affair is doomed.

Carla Scofield has looked after her family since she was a teenager, but it's never been a bother because there isn't anything she wouldn't do for those closest to her. Warm, friendly, and with the ability to make everyone around her laugh, she carries her burden proudly. As the years roll past, Carla sees life around her change dramatically. Wartime brings new challenges and a new job for Carla in a sewing factory, and she shines.

January 1941. Peggy Collins has learned a lot during her time as a Spark Girl. Posted to Swansea as a driver to the squadron leader, she often hears things she shouldn't, and she knows to be discreet, understanding how serious the phrase 'loose lips sink ships' really is. Peggy meets and falls in love with pilot Jim Hudson, but her heart is broken when he becomes missing in action, and Peggy is left fearing the worst. That isn't the end of the shocks in store for Peggy, and she is forced to remember a promise made long ago. But can she keep her word while the bombs fall?

It’s 1927 and Emma has returned to England from Canada with her teenage daughter, Fleur. After the tragedies of the past, Emma is ready to start again in Devon, the place she used to call home. But memories are not the only thing that she has to contend with. Throughout it all Matthew Caunter is rarely far from Emma’s thoughts. Could he be the key to her finally finding happiness?

With the Great War raging, can they keep Britain going? 1915. On Beth Healey's 18th birthday, she hopes that she will be able to forget the ghastly war and celebrate. But that evening, her twin brother, Ned, announces that he has signed up to fight. No longer able to stand working in her parents' village shop while others are doing their bit, Beth applies to join the Army Post Office's new Home Depot on the Regent's Park and is astounded to be accepted. She will be responsible for making sure that letters and parcels get through to the troops on the front line.

Plymouth, 1941. As sirens blare all around, the Shawbrook family take refuge in a packed shelter. Bombs have already begun to fall through the night sky when they realise their infant son, Freddie, has been forgotten in the rush, left to sleep in his crib. Terrified, Vera, his young mother, races to find him and bring him to safety. The next morning, air raid warden David Shawbrook returns from his watch to find the shelter pulverised, and his family seemingly all dead. Dirty footprints inside their home betray the looters who have rifled through the house.

June 1944. Ginnie Travis is working in her father's furniture shop, when the continued bombing raids and her sister Shirley's untimely pregnancy force the two girls to go and stay with their aunt in Shropshire. Here Ginnie falls in love with an American, Lieutenant Nick Miller, stationed nearby. But she discovers that Nick has a fiancée back home and a heartbroken Ginnie ends the relationship. Then news of their father's death in an air raid reaches them. With the family left almost penniless and Shirley and her child to provide for, Ginnie is responsible for them all.

Dorset, 1876. When young Beatrice Cullen shows up in the local church with her illegitimate child in her arms, Reverend Michael Redfern takes it upon himself to help her. He finds her daughter, Lily, a home with a kindly couple. But when, at the age of nine, Lily loses her adopted parents, she is forced to live with her awful aunt, Doris, and cousin, Jez, who treat her no better than a slave. Lily can only seek solace in her dream of one day escaping her aunt and becoming a seamstress.