It is 1936 and, having endured the worst of the Depression, May Stubbs and her family hope for a brighter future. Finding a derelict cricket pavillion near their home in West London they convert it into a bustling cafe. Then May contracts the dreaded tuberculosis and she is sent away to the country to recover.
Being separated from her best friend, Betty Lane, and her childhood sweetheart, George Bailey, is hard for May but she makes new friends who encourage her to fight off her illness. It is only on her return home that the enormity of what has happened while she's been away hits her. There are times when May's happiness seems nothing but a distant dream and when war breaks out she must learn to forgive and forget in order to survive the heartache that lies in store.