For Lexie Melville and Nancy Donnelly, life hadn't turned out quite as they had dreamed it would. Nancy was stuck in a loveless marriage and Lexie, at the age of 29, looked like being 'left on the shelf.' An 'auld maid' Nancy had called her. But for both women, in Dundee in Scotland in 1942, life began to take a turn for the better. World War 2 was changing everyones lives, men were conscripted to fight Hitler and the might of the German forces, while the able-bodied women were called on to do the work of their men in the mills and foundries of the city.
Still living at home with her mother and stepfather since having her heart broken by the love of her life, Robbie Robertson, Lexie had resigned herself to the life of a Spinster till, one day, she saw a war poster asking for women, just like her, to enlist in the Womens Auxiliary Air Force or WAAF as it became known. But could Lexie leave everything she'd ever known and face a new and dangerous world, or would she lose her courage and remain in Dundee with her memories.
Unlike Lexie, her cousin Nancy had never had any trouble finding men to love her, but since she had discovered that her husband, Billy Donnelly, had been regularly visiting a local prostitute, her confidence in herself and love for Billy had crumbled. But, like all the other men, he had been called up to fight in the war, while Nancy went back to work as a Weaver in the mill, earling her own money and gaining her independence. Although the mother of two children, Nancy was soon enjoying a social life at the dancehalls in Dundee, especially with Jim Murphy, her Overseer at the mill, who becomes her lover.
But life is never simple, especially not for Nancy and when she becomes pregnant, Gladys Kelly, the prostitute who has fallin in love with Billy, wastes no time in letting him know what's going in.
And for Lexie's mother, Annie Pepper, now widowed, the past in the shape of Billy Dawson, her first love, returns to haunt her. Still in love with her and the father of her illegitimate son, Billy makes one last attempt to rekindle their love and gives Annie and ultimatum. But will it all be too late for them, or will love find a way?
