Manchester, 1986.
Twenty-four-year-old trainee solicitor Clodagh McNamara is coming undone. Her mother is dead, her boyfriend has left, and her estranged father is remarrying. After one reckless night with a stranger, Clodagh finds herself pregnant. Caught between her strict Catholic upbringing and the views of Cosmopolitan, her unofficial bible, she is confused and alone.
Work, once her refuge, turns toxic and she is haunted by the voice of her late mother. Paralysed by indecision, Clodagh must choose whether ambition or motherhood will define her future. When the handsome stranger reappears, as her boss, he begins asking questions that Clodagh is desperate not to answer.
Supported by her pensioner neighbours who become her adopted family, Clodagh begins to believe that maybe she can survive on her own terms...