It's holiday week in the Lancashire town of Hindle, just before the First World War. Fanny Hawthorne, a spirited, determined mill girl, has just returned from a weekend in Blackpool with her friend Mary Hollins. At least that's what she tells her parents. In fact, she's been spending the weekend with Alan Jeffcote, a wealthy mill owner's son who is engaged to someone else. When Fanny's parents discover the truth, they set out to ensure that Alan will do the decent thing and marry her – only to discover that Fanny has her own ideas on the matter... One of the first plays to have a working class female protagonist, Hindle Wakes was hugely controversial at the time of its writing.