Ruby Watson survives a childhood in the London Blitz, only to find her young life overturned by destructive family secrets. But Ruby's dauntless spirit carries her through, even when the death of her mother leaves her looking after her baby sister Grace. So begins a new kind of family that the warm hearted Ruby gathers round her in post-war Battersea: her 'misfits' who range from Grace to an eccentric tramp discovered in her cellar. Yet while she nurtures the lives of others, Ruby conceals her inner loneliness. Charming gifted Angus, her first sweetheart, seems lost to her, so, with so much love to give, who will love Ruby . . .?