Liverpool, 1940. When her childhood sweetheart Johnny is killed in action, Maxine Grey loses more than her husband – she loses her best friend. Desperate to make a difference in this awful war, Maxine takes a nursing job at London's St Thomas's hospital. She takes comfort in the attentions of a handsome surgeon, but Edwin Blake isn't all he seems. And as the Blitz descends on the capital, Maxine faces more heartache. When she returns to Liverpool, she harbours a secret. When Maxine is offered a job at a Dr Barnardo's orphanage, she hopes this is the second chance she has been looking for. Do the orphans know that she needs them as much as they need her?