1916. East London. When 16-year-old Clover Cooper's mother Iris calls her home from work one day the last thing Clover expects is to find that her mother has given birth to another baby. After all Clover's unpleasant father Sidney has been in France for longer than nine months. Banned from questions and bound to secrecy by her beloved mother Clover leaves her infant brother at a nunnery for safekeeping despite her heartbreak at parting with him. But when Sidney unexpectedly returns from the Western Front life at home suddenly feels more dangerous than a battlefield. Strained by keeping such a secret Clover turns to her fiercely protective grandmother Elsie for advice. But Elsie has her own life-changing decision to make. Then tragedy strikes and Clover will have to find a way to keep her family together and safeguard all that she holds dear.