Now that her family is grown content in the knowledge that she loves them Lucy Henshaw decides she is free to leave. She secretly purchases a beautiful house overlooking the Mersey and there she plans to start afresh. Within hours she has met some characters: her new neighbour Moira who is dying and sees Lucy as the ideal new companion for her husband; Shirley Bishop cleaner extraordinaire; and Dr David Vincent who is grieving for the loss of his young son. It is these new friends too who come to Lucy's rescue when her husband Alan falls ill. Always a fraudster who has tried to control her his illness only seems to offer him another opportunity to complicate Lucy's life all over again.