It's 1939 and war has just broken out. Lizzie and her sister Mary are evacuated from their London home to the safety of the South Coast. Lizzie forgets the family environment dominated by her unloving mother, Florrie and settles down to life at Oaklands. There she meets Alfie Barratt and a lifelong friendship is forged. When Lizzie is packed off to London to live with her grandmother after the war, she sets out to embrace life and independence. But family secrets and personal heartbreak test Lizzie's spirit and strength to the limit and following a disastrous, short-lived marriage, a heartbroken Lizzie flees to the New Forest. Throughout it all, a loyal, steadfast Alfie is there to help pick up the pieces, providing support and unswerving love - a love he hopes Lizzie might one day reciprocate...