It's 1942 and nestled on the edge of the Lake District lies Mary Vale, a sanctuary for expectant mothers. Its doors open to two women from London with vastly different experiences. After their house is bombed Rosie Lashley's ill health forces her to travel with her children to Mary Vale. She improves under the care of the dedicated midwives, but her unruly children cause quite the stir! Whilst beautiful socialite Sybil Harwood would rather be anywhere...

April 1941. Almost losing her life in a bomb blast while serving in the Women's Volunteer Service has made Ann Gilby take stock of what's really important - her family. With daughter Sheila back home, and Joy still working munitions at the Cadbury factory and engaged to her soldier sweetheart, home life feels more settled too. Ann has even come to an uneasy truce with her husband, Len, despite her recent discovery of his infidelity and the fact that...

England, 1919: Rose and Ivy board a ship bound for Australia. One is travelling there to marry a man she has never met.One is destined never to arrive. Australia, 2016: Amongst her late-grandmother's possessions, Molly uncovers a photograph of two girls dressed in First World War nurses' uniforms, labelled 'Rose and Ivy 1917', and a letter from her grandmother, asking her to find out what happened to her own mother, Rose, who disappeared in the 1960s....

As war looms in Europe 18-year-old Jane Shaw runs the household as an unpaid servant on a meagre budget. When tragedy strikes and she loses her beloved younger brother in suspicious circumstances, Jane takes a position in service looking after Ned, a troubled young boy. She meets dashing David Heron, Ned's Uncle and they form an immediate attachment until she is dismissed after being accused of stealing a piece of jewellery. Returning home, Jane and...

It is 1910 in the Lincolnshire Wolds. Fourteen-year-old Rosie Waterhouse lives with her father, Sam, well-known as the local poacher, in a cottage on the Thornsby Estate. The land is owned by William Ramsey, a harsh and heartless man, determined his only son, Byron, should marry well and produce an heir. Rosie is quick to learn the tricks of her father's trade and it's when she's poaching fish from the estate's stream that she meets Byron. They continue...

On the outskirts of Nuneaton in Ansley Common stands Hatters Hall, a dark forbidding place, once a home for the mentally insane. Hatters Hall stands empty now. Some of its windows are boarded up; others stare like empty eyes onto the tangled overgrown gardens. The grounds surrounding the Hall one rang with the cries of the poor demented souls that were committed there. Now there is only silence, although the locals, who shun the place, swear that...

When Catherine Rodriguez's father marries and her mother commits suicide, she is sent to live with her aunt above the rich vineyards of the Douro valley in Portugal. Years later, when Catherine's ruthless father, Walter Shellard, reappears, he presumes she's malleable. But Catherine has never forgotten her mother, and never forgiven him for marrying someone else. One day she will have her revenge.

December, 1938. Rozalin Sachs has grown up in the vibrant city of Frankfurt. But with the Nazi Revolution gaining power, her family is forced to flee Germany. When a tragic accident separates Roz from her parents, she finds herself aboard the Kindertransport bound for Holland. Here Roz meets a young lad called Felix and they vow to stick together as their journey takes them to England. Eventually they find themselves in Liverpool with the promise...

Clemmie throws herself into volunteering with the very organisation who helped her and her sisters when they were homeless: the WVS. Demonstrating a natural flair, painfully-shy Clemmie is soon drafted to set up one of the British Welcome Clubs aimed at easing American troops' integration into English life. There, she meets Squadron Leader Dunning who, shot down in the Blitz, has been left partially paralysed. As friendship turns to something more,...

Three generations of Cazalets spend each summer in their family house. For two unforgettable summers they are safe from the storm clouds of World War II. These are sunlit days of childish games, lavish family meals and picnics on the beach.