West London, 1936. Looking forward to a more prosperous future after the Depression, 15-year-old May Stubbs and her family take on a derelict cricket pavilion, convert it into a cafe´ and general store, and find it quickly becomes the hub of the community. Then May contracts tuberculosis. Leaving her best friend Betty Lane and lifelong soul mate George Bailey behind, she is sent away to fight off the illness. But on her return to London, she finds things have changed. Then war is declared.