When Polly Pritchard learns that her husband has been killed in action, she brings up their young daughter Emmie alone. To make ends meet she gets a job at the Cherry Ballroom in West London and it is here that she meets James, a Canadian airman, and they fall in love. But then Polly's husband turns up, very much alive...Life is even harder for Polly after the war; James has gone; her husband is involved in a criminal gang; and their daughter suffers from an illness that leaves her deaf. But Polly's spirit remains strong and with courage and determination she finds the happiness she and her daughter deserve.