When Evie Forbes starts as an assistant cook at Easterleigh Hall, she goes against her family's wishes. For ruthless Lord Brampton also owns the mine where Evie's father and brothers work, and there is animosity between the two families. But Evie is determined to better herself. And her training at the hall offers her a way out of life below stairs. Evie works hard and gains a valued place in the household. And her dream of running a small hotel grows...

Penny Leighton, TV Producer and wife of the local vicar Simon Canter, is struggling to cope with motherhood. The couple have had their only child Jenna, while Penny is in her forties and it's been a big shock to her system. When Simon engages the services of a nanny, Ella, as a way of helping Penny, it only serves to push her further away from him and from Jenna. After Penny's sister arrives in the village after the death of the woman Penny called...

1920s, Manchester. Living in the deprived Ancoats area of Manchester Polly Pride feels more fortunate than most until her husband Matthew loses his job and her life is thrown into turmoil. With no money coming in Polly must act to keep her family from starvation. In a desperate gamble she sells all the family goods and buys a handcart, from which she sells second-hand rugs and carpets. But struggling to deal with poverty and her husband's hurt pride...

She glanced at her phone again. There were appeals from the girls, from her colleagues, a text from Steve reading with uncharacteristic imperiousness, 'Call me'. She couldn't. She couldn't call anyone. She leaned forward, gripping the edge of the bench, and stared at the ground. God, she thought, am I losing my mind? Is this what happens when you lose your job? The day Stacey Grant loses her job feels like the last day of her life. Or at least, the...

Born the day of the great mining disaster at Jane Pit, Merry, Trent's start in life is marked with tragedy. She is brought up by her only surviving relative, her feisty grandmother Peggy, living in poverty-stricken isolation in the deserted village near the old pit. Times are hard, and then an unwelcome visit from the ruthless mining agent, Miles Gallagher, makes them even harder. He callously rapes Peggy, and when she finds to her distress that she...

When four feisty women from the same family get together at a family reunion, anything can happen. Marie-Claire, betrayed by her partner Marc, plans to teach him a lesson he will never forget. She travels home from Toronto to Ireland, to the house of the Four Winds, for her great-aunt Reverend Mother Brigid's eightieth birthday celebrations. It will be a long-awaited reunion for three generations of family, bringing together her mother, Keelin, and...

It's not always easy living in a close-knit community where everyone knows everyone else's business. Growing up in a quiet West Country village, butcher's daughter Rebecca Peterson and her best friend Cindy Mason are keen to expand their horizons and see more of the world. On leaving school, Rebecca heads off to university in Cardiff, while Cindy gets a job at the new local supermarket - but dreams of becoming a model or actress. The two friends promise...

Kate Madison's stylish second-hand clothing shop has been a big success in New York, supporting her and her 4 kids since her husband's untimely death. Now her children have grown up and are ready to forge lives of their own. They all choose to play against the odds - much to their mother's dismay.

When the kids are grown and Mercy Garrett gradually moves herself out of the family home, everyone determines not to notice. Over at her studio, she wants space and silence. She won't allow any family clutter. Not even their cat, Desmond. Yet it is a clutter of untidy moments that forms the Garretts' family life over the decades, from giving a child a ride to a painstaking Easter lunch, a fateful train journey to an unexpected homecoming. And it all...

Martha Packer is much loved by everyone in the village of Hillsbridge. As the landlady of The Three Feathers, she runs a respectable establishment and is known for her generosity and care for her family and others around her - she even took in two orphan girls to save them from a life of cruelty in the workhouse. So when Martha announces that she has killed her son, Garth, the community is shocked. Garth was undoubtedly a bad seed, but they knew how...