Helen makes one tragic mistake in her life, and pays heavily for it. Disaster strikes and she finds life hard to cope with. She becomes very strict with her daughter Alexine and instils it into her that all actions have lasting and sometimes devastating consequences, so she tries to make sure she never makes a mistake. Alexine is seventeen when Helen is killed in a bombing raid. As she sorts through her mother's belongings she finds a tin containing her mother's secrets. She discovers that she has an older brother and who her father was and how he died and why her mother had black moods for days on end neglecting her in the process. One time in anger Helen had struck Alexine hard across the face when she thought she had lied to her, and demanded to know everything she said and did each day and was punished severely if she omitted anything. Alexine meets Simon days before she goes to Whitby to see her mother's solicitor and he accompanies her for the journey because he wants to escape from his abusive wife. He is a man who stands rigidly by his marriage vows and is not looking for comfort in another woman's arms. Alexine falls in love with Simon even though he is twelve years older than her. Eventually they come together but their love is tested to the extreme when after the war when Simon returns home and tells Alexine he will stay with her and their children but changes his mind to stay with his wife who unbeknown to Alexine is dying. They come together again but when Alexine is attacked she let's him have his freedom thinking he no longer wants her. Will love bring them together or is that asking too much?