Ruth Purslow, Lizzie Warren and Heather Knight each have their own reasons for greeting the end of the war with mixed feelings, Ruth must face the possibility of losing Sammy, the evacuee boy she has come to love as her own--not to mention the uncertain relationship she has with his father. For Heather, who has enjoyed working the farm in her husband's absence, there is the difficult process of adjusting to a man who believes that his wife's place is in the kitchen. And Lizzie is confronted by the truth about her own strength of will in enduring years of loneliness. For the families of Bridge End and April Grove, the "love and laughter" that had been promised turns to bewilderment, anger and disappointment. But although nothing is quite as they had hoped it would be, each is able to move into a future without war, and learn to live with peace.