It is 1914 and Christabel Blakemore is happily preparing for her wedding when she receives the shattering news that her fiance has drowned at sea. Heartbroken, she tries to piece her life together, but she soon discovers she is pregnant. Knowing that she cannot bring up a baby alone, an increasingly desperate Christabel has little choice but to seek assistance from her brother, Lewis. He finds her cheap lodgings in the poorest part of Liverpool and helps get the baby adopted, promising to never speak of the child again. Just as her life seems about to return to normalcy, Christabel's mother suddenly takes ill, and she is forced to return home to look after her. But here she finds life ever more difficult and envies her brother's wife, Violet, who has just had a new baby. Christabel finds herself filled with remorse and regret about what she has done, and wonders if she will ever be free from the fateful decision she made.